Electro-optical modulation characteristics of silicon photonic moiré quasicrystal interferometers

In this work we study the dynamic modulation characteristics of unconventional silicon photonic circuits with low degrees of spatial symmetry. Specifically, we investigate the electro-optical modulation properties of moiré quasicrystal interferometers realized in a silicon photonics platform with integrated electrically driven thermo-optic heaters. Whereas previously we have studied these devices within the context of physical unclonable functions for hardware security applications, here we focus on the fundamental modulation properties and contrast their behavior with well-known conventional systems such as Michaelson or Mach-Zehnder interferometers and ring resonators – all of which exhibit significant degree of spatial symmetry. Our findings suggest that these unconventional photonic integrated circuits could play a role in future analog information processing, storage, and/or transmission technologies.