Ultra-broadband on-chip twisted light emitter for optical communications

On-chip twisted light emitters are essential components of orbital angular momentum (OAM) communication devices(1, 2). These devices address the growing demand for high-capacity communication systems by providing an additional degree of freedom for wavelength/frequency division multiplexing (WDM/FDM). Although whispering-gallery-mode-enabled OAM emitters have been shown to possess some advantages(3, 4, 5), such as compactness and phase accuracy, their inherent narrow bandwidths prevent them from being compatible with WDM/FDM techniques. Here, we demonstrate an ultra-broadband multiplexed OAM emitter that utilizes a novel joint path-resonance phase control concept. The emitter has a micron-sized radius and nanometer-sized features. Coaxial OAM beams are emitted across the entire telecommunication band from 1,450 to 1,650 nm. We applied the emitter to an OAM communication with a data rate of 1.2 Tbit/s assisted by 30-channel optical frequency combs (OFCs). The emitter provides a new solution to further increase capacity in the OFC communication scenario.