Silicon Integrated Photonics: Challenges and Opportunities
A special issue of Photonics (ISSN 2304-6732). This special issue belongs to the section "Optoelectronics and Optical Materials".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 April 2026 | Viewed by 26
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Silicon integrated photonics has experienced rapid and transformative development in recent years, paving the way for promising opportunities across a wide range of domains, including optical communications, high-performance computing, precision sensing, and quantum information technologies. By leveraging mature and scalable semiconductor fabrication techniques, silicon photonics enables the dense integration of optical and electronic components on a single chip, promoting the miniaturization, cost-efficiency, and performance enhancement of photonic systems.
Built upon CMOS-compatible processes, the silicon photonics platform supports the monolithic integration of essential photonic components—such as waveguides, modulators, photodetectors, and optical filters—while advancing toward wafer-scale, multifunctional optoelectronic systems. Its high refractive index contrast facilitates strong optical confinement at subwavelength dimensions, significantly reducing device footprint and enabling high integration density. Moreover, silicon’s intrinsic compatibility with electronic platforms allows for a seamless co-design of photonic and electronic circuits. Nevertheless, several critical challenges persist, including intrinsic material absorption, propagation losses, efficient on-chip light source integration, nonlinear optical limitations, and scalable three-dimensional heterogeneous integration.
To address these bottlenecks, recent progress has been made on multiple fronts. Emerging silicon-based materials such as silicon nitride and silicon carbide offer enhanced optical transparency and nonlinear properties. Hybrid integration strategies, particularly III–V/silicon heterointegration, have paved the way for efficient on-chip light generation. At the same time, advances in packaging, thermal management, and design automation—including artificial intelligence-assisted inverse design and machine learning-driven simulation—are accelerating the development of high-performance, application-specific photonic circuits.
This Special Issue aims to showcase the latest breakthroughs in silicon integrated photonics, encompassing fundamental physical mechanisms, novel device architectures, fabrication and packaging technologies, and a wide spectrum of applications—from classical to quantum. By bringing together leading contributions from academia and industry, this collection seeks to promote interdisciplinary dialogue and inspire collaborative innovation in the next generation of photonic technologies.
Dr. Yongjun Huang
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- silicon integrated photonics
- heterogeneous integration
- quantum technology
- ultra-fast photonics
- topological photonics
- optical computing
- AI-assisted photonic design
- spin–photon interface
- nonlinear dynamics
- optomechanics
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