A short polarization splitter without metal overlays on InGaAsP-InP

A new and very short polarization splitter on InGaAsP-InP is designed and realized for the first time. The component contains a ridge waveguide directional coupler of 0.4 mm length and an output section of 0.7 mm. It uses the large waveguide birefringence of the first-order TE and TM modes to obtain polarization selective directional coupling. In this way, additional metal layers on the waveguides to create birefringence are avoided and fabrication becomes very simple. Components are realized, which show splitting ratios close to -20 dB. Excess losses are below 1 dB. The polarization splitting is investigated in the wavelength region of 1525-1560 nm and found to be better than -9 dB.     

Three-dimensional integrated optics using polymers

Some of the key components are demonstrated to make three-dimensional (3-D) optical integrated circuits possible using polymers. Fabrication techniques of shadow reactive ion etching, shadow photolithography, and gray-level photolithography to produce complex 3-D integrated optic structures are demonstrated. Vertical waveguide bends exhibit excess losses of <0.3 dB, and vertical power splitters possess predictable output splitting ratios between multiple core levels with excess losses of <0.5 dB. Vertical polarization splitters exhibit power extinction ratios of 15 dB between the output core layers. A 1×4 vertical-horizontal power splitter is also demonstrated. Additionally, these techniques are used to integrate different polymer materials into the same optical circuit while easily solving the mode mismatch problem. To show the technique, a polymer electrooptic modulator is vertically integrated with a low-loss waveguide     

Integrated-optic 1×128 power splitter with multifunnelwaveguide

An integrated-optic 1×128 power splitter is demonstrated. It is composed of a slab waveguide, funnel-shaped waveguides, and output waveguides. Input light from a fiber is diffracted in the slab waveguide and received by funnel waveguides. To achieve uniform power splitting, the width of the funnel waveguides is designed based on the Gaussian diffraction pattern; that is the funnel widths increase progressively away from the center. The splitter is fabricated with GeO₂-doped silica waveguides on silicon. The 1×128 splitting is achieved with a low excess loss of 2.3 dB and a small standard deviation of 0.63 dB     

Mode evolution type polarization splitter on InGaAsP/InP

A new type of mode-evolution polarization-splitter based on InGaAsP/lnP has been designed and realized. The component uses the large waveguide birefringence of the first-order TE and TM modes in a ridge waveguide made in a heterostructure, In the input section an asymmetric Y-junction acts as a mode converter in order to inject first-order TE- and TM-modes in a polarization-splitting section, which consists of a Y-junction formed by a bimodal and a monomodal waveguide. In the output section a third Y-junction is connected to the bimodal waveguide to couple the first-order mode to a monomodal output waveguide. Components that are 6-mm long and show polarization splitting at a wavelength of 1.55 μm have been realized. The best splitting ratios are close to -20 dB, which is in agreement with BPM simulations. Excess losses are below 1 dB     

Polarization crosstalk dependence on length in silica-basedwaveguides measured by using optical low coherence interference

We describe a powerful method for precisely measuring polarization crosstalk dependence on length for birefringent waveguides which uses optical low coherence interference between excited and orthogonally coupled light waves. This method is applied to 10-m long silica-based waveguides with the total polarization crosstalks of 8.9×10^-3 and 7.5×10^-3. The spatial resolution is 10 cm and the measurement error for a waveguide part longer than 1 m is ⩽10%. A comparison of measured and theoretical crosstalk curves for the waveguides enables us to confirm that the bends in the waveguides are the main origin of the crosstalk. The polarization crosstalk per bent section is ~4×10^-5     

Polymer waveguide thermooptic switch with low electric powerconsumption at 1.3 μm

A polymer waveguide thermooptic 2×2 switch with low electric power consumption is demonstrated. The switch consists of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with Cr thin-film heaters. The waveguides are fabricated using acrylic polymers synthesized from deuterated methacrylate and deuterated fluoromethacrylate monomers. The total insertion loss of the switch is 0.6 dB at a wavelength of 1.3 μm, including fiber coupling losses and waveguide losses. The switching power is as low as 4.8 mW, and the rise and fall times are both 9 ms     

Eigenmodes of sectoral coaxial ridged waveguides

The results of numerical investigation of sectoral coaxial ridged waveguides eigenmodes of two configurations (with a ridge on inner or outer wall) for different cross-section dimensions are presented. In particular, dependences of cutoff wave numbers on geometrical dimensions ratios for first four modes are investigated, electric field components distributions for these modes have been obtained and the optimization of sectoral coaxial ridged waveguides has been carried out to provide maximal single-mode operation frequency band. Two optimal configurations of waveguides with single-mode operation bandwidth ratio 5.6:1 are obtained. It is shown that smaller cross-section dimensions at the fixed single-mode operation frequency band has the waveguide with the ridge at the inner round wall. The size of the gap between the ridge and the round wall of optimal waveguide is identical for both configurations and is determined by the required ratio of cutoff frequencies of two lower TE modes. Calculations are conducted utilizing the mathematical model obtained in [1] by the integral equation technique with the correct account of singular behavior of the field at the ridge.     

Design and fabrication of low-loss polymer waveguide components for on-chip optical interconnection

This paper reports the fabrication and characterization of straight and curved polyimide waveguides for on-chip optical signal distribution in GaAs-based optoelectronic integrated circuits. Polyimide ridge waveguides with propagation losses (at 830 nm) as low as 0.6 dB/cm have been fabricated. S-bends and splitters with low curvature losses and good splitting ratios have also been successfully fabricated and tested. The effects of the material properties and radius of curvature on the optical losses are presented, and the advantages of this polymer technology are discussed.     

Investigation of optical losses in photoelastic and ridge waveguides in GaAs-AlGaAs heterostructures

Two approaches have been used to fabricate stable photoelastic waveguides with planarized surfaces on GaAs-AlGaAs heterostructures. The first approach uses tensile Ni/sub 3/GaAs stressors formed by metal-semiconductor reactions. The second approach uses inert, refractory and compressive stressors, such as RF sputtered W and RF co-sputtered WNi films. For comparison purposes, ridge waveguides have also been fabricated using the same heterostructure by a dry etching technique. Optical losses of photoelastic waveguides, measured by Fabry-Perot (FP) method at a wavelength of 1.53 /spl mu/m, are comparable to or better than those of the ridge waveguides. Material loss appears to be the primary loss mechanism in both photoelastic and ridge waveguides. These results indicate that the photoelastic waveguide processing technique reported in this study is a promising alternative to commonly used dry etching techniques for planarization.     

A small-size polarization splitter based on a planar optical phasedarray

A device is proposed in which the dispersive properties of an array of bent optical waveguides are utilized for splitting the two polarizations present in the input waveguide. An experimental device for operation at a 633-μm wavelength, with dimensions of 0.6×2.5 mm ², was designed and fabricated using conventional (high-quality) optical lithography. Insertion losses as low as 0.5 dB and far-end crosstalk values of 17-21 dB have been achieved     

Stacked polymeric multimode waveguide arrays for two-dimensional optical interconnects

Two-dimensional (2-D) polymeric multimode waveguide arrays with two reflection-mirrors have been fabricated for optical interconnects between 2-D arrayed vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers and detectors. Contact printing lithography was adopted for simple and low-cost process using ultraviolet-curable epoxy-based polymers. Fabricated waveguides were diced of the same size and stacked one by one with lateral positional errors less than /spl plusmn/20 /spl mu/m. Two kinds of mirrors were fabricated: single-reflection mirror and double-reflection mirror. Double-reflected mirrors resulted in lower losses with 1.2 dB than single reflected mirrors with 2.1 dB. The average insertion losses of 16-channel arrayed waveguides with two single-reflection mirrors and with two double-reflection-mirrors were measured to be 6.1 and 4.4 dB for 6-cm-long waveguides at a wavelength of 830 nm, respectively. The crosstalk between the waveguides was less than -25 dB. The characteristics of the waveguide arrays are good enough for applications to optical interconnects.     

Integrated-Optic Polarization Controlling Devices Using Electro-Optic Polymers

Integrated-optic polarization controlling devices such as polarizers, polarization splitters, and polarization converters, are proposed and demonstrated in nonlinear optic polymers. Poling-induced birefringence in electro-optic polymers is exploited to fabricate the devices. The polymeric waveguide polarizers show low excess losses, and extinction ratios of 20.7 dB and 17.1 dB for TM-pass and TE-pass polarizers, respectively. The polymeric waveguide polarization splitters exhibit TE-TM mode splittings with crosstalk of 14.2 dB and 10.1 dB for TM and TE mode splittings, respectively. The polymeric waveguide polarization converters show successful TE/TM polarization mode conversion with conversion efficiencies of higher than 30 dB. The device employs poling-induced waveguides which have slowly rotating azimuth angle of optic axis along the light propagation direction. The novel polarization converter is insensitive to wavelength and easier to fabricate than the other polarization converters containing periodic structures.     

Fully packaged polymeric four arrayed 2×2 digital opticalswitch

A fully packaged polymeric four arrayed 2×2 digital optical switch is fabricated. Crosslinkable fluorinated polymers with a large thermooptic coefficient and a low loss are used for a low electrical power consumption and a low insertion loss. We improve the uniformity, crosstalk, and insertion loss with introducing a rib waveguide, a channel waveguide, and a tapered waveguide in the polymeric four arrayed 2×2 digital optical switch. The deviation of crosstalks is ±2 dB at 250 mW. The crosstalks are less than -30 dB for all four 2×2 digital optical switch elements with each total electrical power of 250 mW. The fall and rise times are less than 5 ms. The polarization-dependent losses are in the range of 0.2-0.7 dB. The total insertion losses range from 3.5 to 4.0 dB     

Low-loss polymeric optical waveguides fabricated with deuteratedpolyfluoromethacrylate

Deuterated polyfluoromethacrylate which has high transparency, low birefringence and good processability was newly synthesized for use as optical waveguide materials, and both single-mode and multimode optical waveguides were fabricated using the polymer. The propagation loss and waveguide birefringence of the single-mode waveguides were as low as 0.10 dB/cm and -5.5×10^-6 at 1.31 μm, respectively. The propagation losses of the multimode waveguides were less than 0.02 dB/cm at both 0.68 and 0.83 μm, and 0.07 dB/cm at 1.31 μm     

Realization of an Ultracompact Low-Loss Photonic Crystal Corner Mirror

We report on the realization and characterization of an ultracompact, low-loss, and broadband corner mirror based on photonic crystals (PCs). By modifying the boundary layers of the PC region, extra losses of dB per corner mirror are achieved for transverse-electronic polarization for silicon-on-insulator ridge waveguides fabricated by electron beam lithography and inductively coupled plasma etching. Dimensions of the PC corner mirror are less than, which are only about one tenth of conventional waveguide corner mirrors.     

Passive polarization converter in SiON technology

A passive polarization converter has been realized in silicon oxynitride (SiON) technology. The device is a grating assisted codirectional coupler consisting of segments of asymmetrically etched ridge waveguides. By using a double-masking technique, the fabrication of the device is tolerant with respect to the alignment of the required masks. Conversion efficiencies up to 0.98 (TE→TM and TM→TE) and insertion losses of 3 dB/cm have been measured. Using 2-D beam propagation method simulations, an observed beat pattern in the converter could be explained as due to a leaky mode, which is captured in the grating structure     

Adiabatic 3-dB couplers, filters, and multiplexers made with silicawaveguides on silicon

The performance of adiabatic 3-dB couplers and V-branches is reported. These devices are broadband and divide power equally. They have no observable polarization dependence. Typical excess losses relative to a straight waveguide is 0.1-0.2 dB for the 3-dB couplers and about 0.4 dB for the V-branches. Fiber to fiber insertion loss of 0.31 dB was measured for a 2.5-cm straight waveguide. The devices were used to fabricate transmission filters peaked at 1.55 μm and power combiners having two channels at 1.48 and 1.55 μm. The device fabrication was improved by use of a flowable top cladding layer containing boron and phosphorous which easily filled-in between closely spaced waveguides     

All-active InGaAsP-InP optical tapered-amplifier 1×N powersplitters

All-active tapered-amplifier power splitters (TAPS) consisting of a single-mode input waveguide, which acts as a preamplifier, a two-dimensional (2-D) diffraction section, which amplifies the signal during the splitting process, and N single-mode output waveguides, which act as post-amplifiers, were fabricated in 1.3-μm InGaAsP quantum-well material. Gains in each output guide (power out of guide/input power) of greater than 10 dB with a uniformity of better than 0.5 dB from guide to guide were measured on a 1×8 TAPS device     

Low-loss and high-extinction-ratio silica-based strictlynonblocking 16×16 thermooptic matrix switch

A low-loss and high-extinction-ratio silica-based 16×16 thermooptic matrix switch is demonstrated. The switch, which employs a double Mach-Zehnder interferometer switching unit and a matrix arrangement which reduces the total waveguide length, is fabricated with 0.75% refractive index difference waveguides on a 6-in silicon wafer. The average insertion loss and the average extinction ratio are 6.6 and 55 dB, respectively. The total power consumption is 17 W     

脊波导缝隙圆极化天线的设计*

设计了一种新型脊波导缝隙圆极化天线。在脊波导宽边开并联纵缝,从波导耦合电磁波至其上方的四脊波导圆极化器,实现圆极化辐射。采用脊波导不仅减小了单元尺寸,更改善了天线的带宽性能。重点研究了四脊波导圆极化器对相互垂直的两辐射场分量的影响,优化单元的轴比特性。在提取单元谐振电导的基础上,设计了工作在10GHz 的1×10 圆极化波导缝隙阵列。对天线实物测试得到中心频率处的增益为16.8dB,第一副瓣电平为 25dB,阻抗带宽约为8.5%,相对轴比带宽(AR臆3dB)约为3.2%。