US 12,326,644 B2
Reconfigurable all-optical nonlinear activation functions on silicon-integrated platform
Yiwei Peng, Houston, TX (US); Yuan Yuan, Milpitas, CA (US); and Stanley Cheung, Milpitas, CA (US)
Assigned to Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP, Spring, TX (US)
Filed by HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT LP, Houston, TX (US)
Filed on Oct. 10, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/963,027.
Prior Publication US 2024/0118582 A1, Apr. 11, 2024
Int. Cl. G02F 1/225 (2006.01); G02F 1/21 (2006.01); G02F 1/365 (2006.01); G06N 3/048 (2023.01); G06N 3/067 (2006.01)
CPC G02F 1/2257 (2013.01) [G02F 1/212 (2021.01); G02F 1/365 (2013.01); G06N 3/048 (2023.01); G06N 3/067 (2013.01); G02F 2203/15 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
12. A nonlinear activation device, comprising:
a Mach-Zehnder coupler (MZC) comprising a first phase-shift mechanism;
a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) coupled to the MZC, the MZI comprising a first branch that includes a first waveguide formed of a first material and a second waveguide formed of a second material that is dissimilar to the first material, and a second phase-shift mechanism coupled to the first waveguide; and
a microring resonator (MRR) coupled to the second waveguide, the microring resonator formed of the second material,
wherein the first and second phase-shift mechanisms are configured to control biases of the nonlinear activation device to switchably achieve a desired activation function,
wherein the second material comprises at least one of: (i) a bandgap over 1.9 eV; (ii) a nonlinear refractive index that is greater than 3×10−20 m2/W, and (iii) a linear loss coefficient that is less than 200 dB/m.