Low-loss, compact waveguiding with TE mode in metal/dielectric waveguides for planar lightwave circuit

We propose a low-loss metal/dielectric waveguide for compact planar lightwave circuit. The basic waveguide structure is a metal-defined high-index-contrast strip waveguide based on silicon/silica. As the guide is designed for TE single mode waveguiding, extremely low propagation loss (e.g. <0.04 dB/cm), very low bend loss (e.g. 0.0043 dB/90°-turn) and small waveguide pitch of zero-crosstalk are theoretically achievable, and can be further improved by compromising with component size and density. Examples of multi-bends and device integration are demonstrated with numerical simulations. The proposal is compatible with silicon technology and appealing for development of silicon-based planar lightwave circuit.     

Low-loss amorphous silicon-on-insulator technology for photonic integrated circuitry

We report the fabrication of low-loss amorphous silicon photonic wires deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Single mode photonic wires were fabricated by 193 nm optical lithography and dry etching. Propagation loss measurements show a loss of 3.46 dB/cm for photonic wires and 1.34 dB/cm for ridge waveguides.     

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°.     

Simplified design of low-loss and flat dispersion photonic crystal waveguide on SOI

A low-loss and flat dispersion line-defect photonic crystal waveguide is proposed with a simplified waveguide-design on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) based on hexagonal lattice of 2D photonic crystals. A propagation loss of 3.6 dB/mm and flat dispersion over a large wavelength band is reported with an easy-to-implement design without disturbing the periodicity (keeping lattice constant and hole diameter fixed) in the line-defect photonic crystals. The combined effect of photonic crystals (in-plane periodicity) and the vertical layers on SOI results in efficient waveguiding and dispersion characteristics.     

Low-loss germanium strip waveguides on silicon for the mid-infrared

Mid-infrared photonics in silicon needs low-loss integrated waveguides. While monocrystalline germanium waveguides on silicon have been proposed, experimental realization has not been reported. Here we demonstrate a germanium strip waveguide on a silicon substrate. It is designed for single mode transmission of light in transverse magnetic (TM) polarization generated from quantum cascade lasers at a wavelength of 5.8 μm. The propagation losses were measured with the Fabry-Perot resonance method. The lowest achieved propagation loss is 2.5 dB/cm, while the bending loss is measured to be 0.12 dB for a 90° bend with a radius of 115 μm.     

Athermal silicon arrayed waveguide grating with polymer-filled slot structure

In this paper, an athermal silicon arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) with the assistance of a polymer-filled slot structure is proposed. Arrayed slot waveguides were used to replace arrayed silicon photonic wires (SPWs). By carefully controlling the temperature dependence of the effective index of the polymer-filled slot waveguides, the athermal silicon AWG is realized. Analysis shows that the center wavelength shift of the AWG can be down to 0.14 pm/°C.     

32-channel arrayed waveguide grating multiplexer using low loss fluorinated polymer operating around 1550 nm

A 32 × 32 arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) multiplexer operating around the 1550 nm wavelength has been designed and fabricated using highly fluorinated polyethers. The propagation loss of the slab waveguide is about 0.3 dB/cm at 1550 nm wavelength. The channel spacing of the AWG multiplexer is 0.8 nm (100 GHz). The insertion loss of the multiplexer is 10.3-15.3 dB and the crosstalk is less than −20 dB.     

Compact four-channel reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer using silicon photonic wire

We designed and fabricated a four-channel reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer based on silicon photonic wire waveguide, which is controlled through the thermo-optic effect. The effective footprint of the device is about 1000 × 500 μm². The minimum insertion loss including the transmission loss and coupling loss is about 10.7 dB. The tuning bandwidth is about 17 nm, the average tuning efficiency about 6.11 mW/nm and the tuning speed about 24.5 kHz.     

Integrated waveguide splitter fabricated by Cs-Na ion-exchange

This paper reports a optical power splitter fabricated by Cs⁺-Na⁺ ion-exchange in KF3 glass. The propagation loss of the waveguide is about 0.25 dB/cm derived from measured contrast ratio and 3 dB bandwidth.     

Optical waveguide fabrication and integration with a micro-mirror inside photosensitive glass by femtosecond laser direct writing

Photosensitive glass is a potentially important material for micro-fluidic devices that can be integrated with micro-optical components for biochemical analysis. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of optical waveguides inside glass by femtosecond laser direct writing. The influence of the laser parameters on the waveguide properties is investigated, and it is revealed that the waveguide mode can be well controlled. The single mode is achieved at a low writing energy, while the multimode is achieved with increasing energy. In spite of a longitudinally elongated elliptical shape of the cross-sectional profile, the far-field pattern of the single-mode waveguide shows an almost symmetric profile. The measured propagation loss and the coupling loss are evaluated to be ∼0.6 dB/cm and ∼1.6 dB at a wavelength of 632.8 nm, respectively, under the conditions of 1.0–2.0 μJ pulse energy and 200–500 μm/s scan speed. The increased optical loss is associated with a higher waveguide mode at higher writing energy. Furthermore, the integration of waveguides and a micromirror made of a hollow microplate inside the glass is demonstrated to bend the laser beam at an angle of 90° in a small chip. The bending loss is estimated to be smaller than 0.3 dB. PACS 42.62.-b; 42.82.Cr; 82.50.Pt; 42.79.Gn; 42.81.Qb     

Hybrid Integration of 1 × 12 Metal-Semiconductor-Metal Photodetector and Polyimide Waveguide Array

We report here a demonstration of hybrid integration of a 1 × 12 metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetector array and polyimide channel waveguides via 45° total-internal-reflection (TIR) micro-couplers. The two-layer polyimide waveguide array was constructed using Ultradel 9120D for the core and Ultradel 9020 for the lower cladding layer. The coupling loss and propagation loss of the waveguide are 0.2dB and 0.21 dB/cm, respectively. The cross talk of the adjacent channels is -32 dB. The MSM photodetector array was fabricated on a semi-insulated GaAs wafer. The photodetectors are integrated to operate in the conventional vertical illumination mode. We measured the external quantum-efficiency and 3 dB bandwidth of the integrated MSM photodetectors at 0.4 A/W and 2.648 GHz, respectively. The aggregate 3 dB bandwidth of the 12-channel integrated system is 32 GHz.     

Optimization for waveguide bends in 2D + 3D hetero-structure

By the finite-difference time-domain method, the propagations for 45° and 90° waveguide bend in 2D + 3D hetero-structure are investigated. Different optimization methods are considered. The results show that the perturbation method and periodicity changing can effectively enhance the transmission of waveguide.     

Semi-analytical analysis of lithium niobate photonic wires

Lithium niobate (LiNbO₃) photonic wires are of growing interest in the field of nonlinear optics and to fabricate micro-ring resonators. In this paper the design and analysis of LiNbO₃ photonic wires by a semi-analytical technique is presented. The two-dimensional refractive index profile of the waveguide is transformed into lateral one-dimensional equivalent-index profile by the effective-index method. A transfer matrix method is then applied to this lateral equivalent-index profile of the waveguide to determine the propagation constants and electric-field distributions of the guided modes. Single mode photonic wires at 1.31 μm transmitting wavelength are designed for both TE and TM polarizations and finally, the matrix method is employed along with the conformal mapping technique to determine the bending loss of the curved photonic wires for different radii of curvature. The process needs less computation power, both in terms of elapsed time and memory, and can also be applicable to other photonic materials.     

Optical alignment tolerances in double-side irradiated self-written waveguide-induced fiber arrays packages

In this paper, we present our experimental study on the optical alignment tolerance between the couplings of single-mode fibers (SMFs) connected with a double-side irradiation-induced self-written waveguide (SWW). The study firstly focuses on the coupling of two SMFs and then on the two fiber arrays (FAs) for parallel optical communication. The SWW was formed in dye-dispersed epoxy materials by the photopolymerization technique. Rhodamine 6G dye was dispersed in epoxy, which is commonly used in the photonic packaging industry as a bonding adhesive. Using double-side irradiated SWW, we found the alignment tolerance for such optical interconnect to relax significantly. All the formed SWWs were evaluated in terms of optical loss. In our study, up to 4 µm misalignment tolerance was allowed for only 1 dB loss penalty. In addition, the optical interconnect formed by this technique was also able to tolerate up to ± 10 µm lateral shift with only 1 dB extra loss. The wavelength-dependent loss (from 1520 to 1610 nm) and polarization-dependent loss were less than 0.4 dB. The double-side irradiated SWW-induced couplings between two FAs also provided low optical loss. They were found to be less sensitive to temperature changes, and no significant distortion in the digital signal transmission test was observed. We believe that the findings are useful and applicable to other dye-dispersed epoxy material systems for relaxing the alignment tolerance of the optical interconnects in various photonic packaging situations.     

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.     

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.     

SOI nanophotonic waveguide structures fabricated with deep UV lithography

To reduce the dimensions of photonic integrated circuits, high-contrast wavelength-scale structures are needed. We developed a fabrication process for Silicon-on-insulator nanophotonics, based on standard CMOS processing techniques with deep UV lithography. Measurements using either end-fire incoupling or grating-based fibre couplers show photonic crystal waveguides with moderate propagation losses (7.5 dB/mm) and photonic wires with very low propagation losses (0.24 dB/mm).     

Microfabrication of stacks of acoustic matching layers for 15 MHz ultrasonic transducers

This paper presents a novel method used to manufacture stacks of multiple matching layers for 15 MHz piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers, using fabrication technology derived from the MEMS industry. The acoustic matching layers were made on a silicon wafer substrate using micromachining techniques, i.e., lithography and etch, to design silicon and polymer layers with the desired acoustic properties. Two matching layer configurations were tested: a double layer structure consisting of a silicon–polymer composite and polymer and a triple layer structure consisting of silicon, composite, and polymer. The composite is a biphase material of silicon and polymer in 2-2 connectivity. The matching layers were manufactured by anisotropic wet etch of a (1 1 0)-oriented Silicon-on-Insulator wafer. The wafer was etched by KOH 40 wt%, to form 83 μm deep and 4.5 mm long trenches that were subsequently filled with Spurr’s epoxy, which has acoustic impedance 2.4 MRayl. This resulted in a stack of three layers: The silicon substrate, a silicon–polymer composite intermediate layer, and a polymer layer on the top. The stacks were bonded to PZT disks to form acoustic transducers and the acoustic performance of the fabricated transducers was tested in a pulse-echo setup, where center frequency, −6 dB relative bandwidth and insertion loss were measured. The transducer with two matching layers was measured to have a relative bandwidth of 70%, two-way insertion loss 18.4 dB and pulse length 196 ns. The transducers with three matching layers had fractional bandwidths from 90% to 93%, two-way insertion loss ranging from 18.3 to 25.4 dB, and pulse lengths 326 and 446 ns. The long pulse lengths of the transducers with three matching layers were attributed to ripple in the passband.     

多孔硅通道型光波导的制备及传输损耗的测量

利用多孔硅在阳极腐蚀过程中外加的光照度与孔隙率的对应关系,提出了一种利用光照控制多孔硅折射率的方法制备通道型光波导技术.对制备出的多孔硅波导损耗进行了分析.由于多孔硅波导层中孔状结使得波导端面较为粗糙,耦合损耗大是多孔硅光波导传输损耗测量中遇到的的问题,对此采用了一种非破坏性的简便的优化端面耦合传输损耗测量方法,可以实现入射光束与波导的完全耦合,消除了因光波与波导中导波模式间失配引起的损耗.较精确的测量出实验中制备的通道型多孔硅光波导的传输损耗为16.2dBcm,波导端面的散射损耗为3.6dB.     

2.5THz环烯烃聚合物中空芯光子晶体光纤设计与实验

采用全矢量有限元法,仿真设计了一种工作在2.5THz频段的中空芯太赫兹光子晶体光纤,用环烯烃聚合物材料(COC)制备了光纤样品,利用CO2激光泵浦气体太赫兹源搭建了测试平台并对光纤的太赫兹波传输性能进行了测试。实测光纤最低损耗0.17dB/cm、平均损耗约0.5dB/cm,在弯曲90°情况下光纤传输损耗波动小于5%,具有良好的可弯曲性;光纤输出端口的模场分布测试结果表明,光纤是以主模进行传输,太赫兹能量很好地被束缚在光纤芯中。