Editorial Introduction to JSTQE Issue on High Density Integrated Multipurpose Photonic Circuits

The papers in this special section focus on high density integrated multipurpose photonic circuits. The growing maturity of integrated photonic technology makes it possible to build increasingly large and complex photonic circuits on the surface of a chip, enabling a generation of photonic circuits that can be programmed using software for a wide variety of functions. Programmability and reconfigurability in photonic integrated circuits allow both multipurpose devices and systems with unprecedent adaptability and flexibility. This emerging field is one of the fastest-growing fields in photonics with applications including optical signal processing, computing and quantum photonics.