Long range surface plasmon polariton waveguides at 1.31 and 1.55 μm wavelengths

We investigate characteristics of gold metal strip waveguides based on long range surface plasmon polaritons (LRSPPs) along thin metal strips embedded in a polymer for practical applications at the telecommunication wavelengths of 1.31 and 1.55 μm. Guiding properties of the gold strip waveguides are theoretically and experimentally evaluated with the limited thickness and width up to ∼20 nm and ∼10 μm, respectively. The lowest propagation loss of ∼1.4 dB/cm is obtained with a 14.5-nm-thick and 2-μm-wide gold strip at 1.55 μm. With a single-mode fiber, the lowest coupling loss of ∼0.4 dB/facet is achieved with a 14.5-nm-thick and 5-μm-wide gold strip at 1.55 μm. The lowest insertion losses are obtained 8-9 dB with 1.5 cm-long gold strips of a limited thickness and width at both the wavelengths. We demonstrate a 10 Gbps optical signal transmission via the LRSPP waveguide with a 14 nm-thick, 2.5 μm-wide, and 4 cm-long gold strip. These LRSPP waveguides have potential applications for optical interconnects and communications.     

Polarization beam splitter with wide bandwidth in air-hole-based periodic dielectric waveguides

A polarization beam splitter with wide bandwidth and simple structure in air-hole-based periodic dielectric waveguides has been proposed and designed. Operation principle of the device is based on different directional coupling properties of beams in TE and TM polarizations in parallel periodic dielectric waveguides. Performances have been evaluated by a finite-difference time-domain simulation. Results show that the polarization beam splitter provides a wide bandwidth of 113 nm with both a high extinction ratio (higher than 21 dB) and a low insertion loss (less than 1.5 dB) for optical communication wavelengths at ∼1.55 μm. Moreover, the performances of the polarization beam splitter are insensitive to longitudinal alignment errors in the coupling region, which is desirable for device fabrication and practical application.     

Direct writing waveguides inside YAG crystal by femtosecond laser

A 120 fs Ti-sapphire laser was used to fabricate waveguides in YAG crystal. A 7 mm long waveguide was written at a position of 100 μm below the surface, which shows multimode propagation at 633 nm with optical attenuation of about 0.2 dB/mm. The light guiding occurs in the region around the visible laser-damaged region, indicating that the light guiding area is induced by stress. The waveguide exhibited strong birefringence property with maximum magnitude of about 1.5 × 10⁻⁵. Infrared and Raman spectroscopy analysis indicate there is no change in chemical composition in laser-modified zone.     

A photonic wire-based directional coupler based on SOI

A photonic wire-based directional coupler based on SOI was fabricated by e-beam lithography (EBL) and the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching method. The size of the sub-micron waveguide is 0.34 μm × 0.34 μm, and the length in the coupling region and the separation between the two parallel waveguides are 410 and 0.8 μm, respectively. The measurement results are in good agreement with the results simulated by 3D finite-difference time-domain method. The transmission power from two output ports changed reciprocally with about 23 nm wavelength spacing between the coupled and direct ports. The extinction ratio of the device was between 5 and 10 dB, and the insertion loss of the device in the wavelength range 1520-1610 nm was between 22 and 24 dB, which included an about 18.4 ± 0.4 dB coupling loss between the taper fibers and the polished sides of the device.     

Hybrid photonic crystal 1.31/1.55 μm wavelength division multiplexer based on coupled line defect channels

The objective of this paper is to investigate the implementation of a hybrid photonic crystal (PhC) 1.31/1.55 μm wavelength division multiplexer (WDM) and wavelength channel interleaver with channel spacing of roughly 0.8 nm between the operating wavelengths of 1.54-1.56 μm. It is based on 1-D photonic crystal (PhC) structure connected with an output 2-D PhC structure. The power transfer efficiency of the hybrid PhC WDM at 1.31 μm and 1.55 μm were computed by eigen-mode expansion (EME) method to be about 88% at both the wavelengths. The extinction ratios obtained for the 1.31 μm and 1.55 μm wavelengths are − 25.8 dB and − 22.9 dB respectively.     

Low loss optical channel waveguides for the infrared range using niobium based hybrid sol-gel material

In this work, we report the fabrication of single-mode Nb₂O₅ based hybrid sol-gel channel waveguides. Nb₂O₅ based hybrid sol-gel material has been deposited by spin-coating on silicon substrate and channel waveguides have been fabricated by a UV direct laser writing process. Optical guided modes have been observed to confirm single-mode conditions and optical propagation loss measurements have been performed using the cut-back technique. Optical propagation losses were measured to be 0.8 dB/cm and 2.4 dB/cm at 1.31 μm and 1.55 μm respectively. These experimental results demonstrate low loss optical waveguiding within the infrared range and are very promising in view of material choice for the development of integrated optical devices for telecommunication.     

Compact,wide bandwidth,multi-channel power dividers based on one-dimensional photonic crystal waveguides

We propose novel compact multiport power dividers based on one-dimensional photonic crystal omnidirectional reflective waveguides. The proposed power dividers have advantages of wide bandwidth, flexible extended output channel number and compact size. The power dividers are numerical simulations using finite-difference time-domain method. Near-complete transmission and uniform at every branch of output power of multi-port power dividers are observed within wide frequency range. For a 1D PhC 1 × 6 power divider, the six output port achieved nearly 16.5% transmission at each arm from 1545 nm to 1553 nm and the size of 1 × 6 power divider is 14.3 μm × 14.3 μm at 1.55 μm operation wavelength.     

Plasmonic modulator utilizing three parallel metal-dielectric-metal waveguide directional coupler and elasto-optic effects

We report, for the first time, on the design of a plasmonic modulator working on the principle of the elasto-optic effects in a directional coupling structure, utilizing three parallel metal-dielectric-metal waveguides. We propose to achieve the active switching of the power propagation using the elasto-optic effect and optimize the extinction ratio of the optical modulation. The device is characterized and numerically analyzed using the finite-element-method at the wavelengths of 1.55 μm. For the modulator length of 2.33 μm, the extinction ratio of the modulation is nearly 14 dB, and the calculated attenuation loss is 4.5 dB. The calculated driving voltage is 4.8 V for the given modulator. The effect of the applied voltage on the modulation is also analyzed.     

Arbitrary angle waveguide bends in two-dimensional photonic crystals

Arbitrary angle waveguide bends in two-dimensional photonic crystals are studied with modeling and calculation. The lattice orientation restriction to bending angles can be avoided by incorporating an annular air groove into the bending corner. Theoretical analysis shows that the sharp bends transmit guided lightwaves with a very slight difference of propagation properties between straight waveguides and bend sections. A transmission of larger than 90% with a bandwidth of wider than 52 nm is obtained in the vicinity of 1.55 μm for the sharp bends with bending angles from 0° to 165°.     

Single-mode rib polymer waveguides and electro-optic polymer waveguide switches

Mode-matching and effective index methods are used to analyze single-mode operation of optical rib polymer waveguides. Their single-mode waveguiding conditions are determined. Single-mode rib waveguides fabricated from guest–host polyetherketone are presented. The estimated propagation loss of straight rib-waveguides is 0.7 dB/cm at 1.55 μm. Furthermore, by using the mode field-transfer matrix method, 2×2 and 4×4 polymer Mach–Zehnder interference switch operating at 1.55 μm wavelength has been designed based on optical multi-mode interference.     

Supercontinuum generation in square photonic crystal fiber with nearly zero ultra-flattened chromatic dispersion and fabrication tolerance analysis

This paper presents a simple index-guiding square photonic crystal fiber (SPCF) where the core is surrounded by air holes with two different diameters. The proposed design is simulated through an efficient full-vector modal solver based on the finite difference method with anisotropic perfectly matched layers absorbing boundary condition. The nearly zero ultra-flattened dispersion SPCF with low confinement loss, small effective area as well as broadband supercontinuum (SC) spectra is targeted. Numerical results show that the designed SPCF has been achieved at a nearly zero ultra-flattened dispersion of 0 ± 0.25 ps/(nm·km) in a wavelength range of 1.38 μm to 1.89 μm (510 nm band) which covers E, S, C, L and U communication bands, a low confinement loss of less than 10⁻⁷ dB/m in a wavelength range of 1.3 μm to 2.0 μm and a wide SC spectrum (FWHM = 450 nm) by using picosecond pulses at a center wavelength of 1.55 μm. We then analyze the sensitivity of chromatic dispersion to small variations from the optimum value of specific structural parameters. The proposed index-guiding SPCF can be applicable in supercontinuum generation (SCG) covering such diverse fields as spectroscopy applications and telecommunication dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) sources.     

Design and analysis of multi-ring microstructured-core optical fibers

A novel design of single-mode large-mode-area optical fiber is presented. The core is composed of alternate high and low-index regions to form an effectively low-index contrast between the core and the cladding. The proposed fiber is investigated by the finite-element method with anisotropic perfect matched layer boundary conditions. In addition, the bending losses of the fibers are calculated and compared with those of the step-index optical fibers. In particular, numerical simulations demonstrate that single-mode operation can be achieved in one such fiber with mode area larger than 600 μm² at the wavelength of 1.55 μm and bending loss lower than 0.02 dB/m for bending radius greater than 20 cm.     

Design of a wavelength demultiplexer based on a parabolically tapered multimode interference coupler

A compact wavelength demultiplexer is designed for the operation at 1.30 and 1.55 μm wavelengths using the three-dimensional semi-vectorial beam propagation method. The parabolically tapered multimode interference (MMI) coupler based on the deep-etched SiO₂/SiON rib waveguide is introduced into the present demultiplexer for reducing the length. The numerical results show that a MMI section of 330.0 μm in length, which is only 76% length of a straight MMI coupler, is achieved with the contrasts of 42.3 and 39.2 dB in quasi-TE mode, and 38.4 and 37.8 dB in quasi-TM mode at wavelengths 1.30 and 1.55 μm, respectively and the insertion losses below 0.2 dB. The modified finite difference scheme is applied to approximate the resulting equations along the transverse directions, in which the discontinuities of the derivatives of magnetic field components H_y and H_x along the vertical and horizontal interfaces, respectively, are involved.     

1 × 4 coupler based on all solid five-core photonic crystal fibers

An improved 1 × 4 coupler based on all solid multi-core photonic crystal fiber is proposed and analyzed. The expressions to calculate the coupling length and the coupling efficiency are deduced based on the coupled-mode equations firstly. Then a full-vector finite element method (FEM) is used to calculate the coupling length and the coupling efficiency. Next, the propagation characteristics and the performances of the coupler are analyzed through using a full vector beam propagation method (BPM). Research shows that the results derived by FEM agree with that by BPM. The coupling length of the coupler is 4.1 mm at λ = 1.55 μm. A maximum coupling efficiency of 24.96% can be obtained. The coupling ratio is more than 22.5% over a wavelength range of 100 nm. The polarization-dependent loss at λ = 1.55 μm is equal to 0.73 dB. Finally, the influences of the micro-variation of structure parameters and the material refractive index on the working performances of the coupler are investigated.     

A 1 × 4 polarization and wavelength independent optical power splitter based on a novel wide-angle low-loss Y-junction

A 1 × 4 polarization and wavelength independent optical power splitter is reported. This device is based on a novel wide-angle low-loss Y-junction structure which can give a theoretical TE junction excess loss of 0.26 dB at a branching angle of 16°. To the best of our knowledge, it is so far the lowest reported loss at such a large angle. The detailed design of the device and its fabrication are described. Our experimental results show the measured TE excess loss to be 1.2 dB and TM excess loss 1.8 dB for the whole splitter over the wavelength between 1.47 μm and 1.57 μm.     

A novel ultrahigh birefringent hole-assistant microstructured optical fiber with low confinement loss

A novel hole-assistant microstructured optical fiber with a rectangle-like core and four elliptical holes as cladding is proposed. By employing a full-vector finite element method, the modal birefringence and confinement loss are numerically investigated, and the results show that in such a structure, an ultrahigh modal birefringence of 2.91×10⁻² and a low confinement loss (<1 dB/km) can be simultaneously obtained at excited wavelength of 1.55 μm. It is significant that such a microstructured optical fiber is easily fabricated with its simple structure and exhibits improved performance.     

New version of seven wavelengths demultiplexer based on the microcavities in a two-dimensional photonic crystal

A new two dimensional photonic crystal demultiplexer of wavelength (WDM) is designed by exploiting two Fabry–Pérot reflectors at the end of the bus waveguides. The results show that the light with different wavelengths can be successfully filtered to different ports by setting different radius of the center defect rods in the drop waveguides and high drop efficiency can be achieved by means of reflection feedbacks. The proposed filter has a cross section equal to 9.7 μm × 5.8 μm. In the designed filter, an improvement of the number of channels has been achieved. The normalized transmission spectra of this component have been studied using finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. The important parameters consider for this studies are radius of rods used in Fabry–Pérot reflectors, and radius of center defect rods in the drop waveguides. The demultiplexer we designed can easily separate the light with seven different wavelengths simultaneously. The scope of this paper lies on demultiplexer for communication systems around 1.55-μm wavelength.     

Low cost fabrication of SiO2 optical waveguides by laser direct writing on Ti-doped Sol-Gel films

A commercial direct laser writing (DLW) system operating at 1070 nm was used to fabricate SiO₂ optical waveguides on silicon wafers. A Ti-doped SiO₂ Sol-Gel film was deposited on the SiO₂/Si substrate by the dip-coating technique, based on which SiO₂ optical waveguides were patterned by DLW using a Ytterbium fiber laser and followed by chemical etching. The effects of laser parameters and the preheated temperature of Sol-Gel films on the dimensions of optical waveguides were studied systematically. The differences of etching rate between laser irradiated and non-irradiated areas in Sol-Gel films preheated at various temperatures are characterized by measuring the thickness of the films. Results demonstrate that the available laser power density range for laser densification and the width of the patterned optical waveguides are influenced strongly by the preheated temperature of the Sol-Gel films. The width of the optimized optical waveguide in this work is 25 μm. The minimum propagation loss of the fabricated optical waveguides is 1.7 dB cm⁻¹ at the wavelength of 1550 nm.     

Sm-doped polymer optical waveguide amplifiers

Trivalent samarium ion (Sm³⁺) doped SU8 polymer materials were synthesized and characterized. Intense red emission at 645 nm was observed under UV laser light excitation. Spectroscopic investigations show that the doped materials are suitable for realizing planar optical waveguide amplifiers. About 100 μm wide multimode Sm³⁺-doped SU8 channel waveguides were fabricated using a simple UV exposure process. At 250 mW, 351 nm UV pump power, a signal enhancement of ∼7.4 dB at 645 nm was obtained for a 15 mm long channel waveguide.     

Demonstration of a no-moving-parts axial scanning confocal microscope using liquid crystal optics

For the first time, to the best of authors’ knowledge, a no-moving-parts axial scanning confocal microscope (ASCM) system is designed and demonstrated using a combination of a large diameter liquid crystal (LC) lens and a classical microscope objective lens. By electrically controlling the 5 mm diameter LC lens, the 633 nm wavelength focal spot is moved continuously over a 48 μm range with a measured 3-dB axial resolution of 3.1 μm using a 0.65 numerical aperture (NA) micro-objective lens. The ASCM is successfully used to image an Indium Phosphide (InP) twin square optical waveguide sample with a 10.2 μm waveguide pitch and 2.3 μm height and width. Using fine analog electrical control of the LC lens, a super-fine sub-wavelength axial resolution of 270 nm is demonstrated. The proposed ASCM can be useful in various precision three-dimensional (3D) imaging and profiling applications.