Use of silicon photonics wavelength multiplexing techniques for fast parallel readout in high energy physics

Abstract Optical wavelength multiplexing is a widely used technique in Information and Communication Technology to increase maximum data transmission bandwidth on a single optical fiber. We propose wavelength multiplexing/demultiplexing using optical Ring Resonators (RR) on a silicon photonics circuit for fast timing highly segmented detectors readout. A cascaded microrings, sharing a common bus waveguide with individual drop waveguides, can be used to encode the readout of an array of detectors on a single optical fiber. The device works using a silicon strip-waveguide coupled to a set of N high Q-factor RR filters driven by a different ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) front-end electronics.