Passive broadband silicon-on-insulator polarization splitter

We present the implementation of a novel wavelength independent polarization splitter on a silicon-on-insulator platform. The waveguide splitter is based on a zero-order arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) configuration. The splitting function is realized by employing cladding stress-induced birefringence. The device demonstrated a TE to TM splitting ratio better than -15 dB over a 20 nm tuning range centered around lambda=1550 nm and better than -10 dB over our entire accessible wavelength range from lambda=1465 nm to 1580 nm. The highest splitting extinction ratio achieved was -20 dB. To our knowledge, this is the first reported passive broadband polarization splitter based on AWG.     

A polarization splitter based on self-imaging phenomena in an anisotropic photonic crystal with an absolute photonic band gap

In a multi-mode waveguide of an anisotropic photonic crystal with an absolute photonic band gap, self-imaging phenomena are achieved for both TE and TM polarizations. Through careful choice of structure parameters, or the working frequency, the field of TE and TM polarization components can be separated in space after a certain propagating distance, based on which a polarization splitter is designed and numerically simulated. The numerical simulation shows that the polarization extinction ratio of the polarization splitter can reach a value of 22.9 dB and 19.2 dB at its two output ports, respectively.     

基于Ti扩散铌酸锂偏振分束器的研制

对定向耦合型偏振分束器的原理进行了分析。设计了一种零间距定向耦合器,在空间上实现TE/TM模式分束;用BPM软件对所设计的器件进行仿真模拟,对于TE/TM模的消光比分别可以达到21.2dB和19.5dB;该器件在X切Y传的LiNbO3晶片上采用Ti扩散技术制作完成。实验样品消光比测试结果TE/TM模分别为11.5dB和19.1dB,对于消光比不够理想的原因进行了初步的分析。     

Polarisation splitter/combiner based on an antiresonant directional coupler

The theoretical performance of a new polarisation splitter/combiner based on a directional coupler is studied using vectorial mode analysis. The device includes an efficient antiresonant mirror transparent to TM polarisation and opaque to TE polarisation. Simulations indicate a high level of TM light can be transferred from the input waveguide into the non-excited guide for coupling lengths shorter than 1 mm. In addition, coupling efficiency of 80% and extinction ratios close to 30 dB have been obtained in a not optimised device.     

TE/TM-mode pass polarizers and splitter based on an asymmetric twin waveguide and resonant coupling

A new passive TE/TM-mode polarization filter for an InP system based on an asymmetric twin waveguide and resonant coupling is investigated. Linear taper sections with different taper angles are introduced to couple between the two vertically separated waveguides. The underlying waveguide is designed to enable direct edge coupling from an optical fiber. At a wavelength of 1.55?μm power extinction ratios of 20 dB for the TE- and more than 10 dB for the TM-polarization are reported for devices shorter than 400?μm. An increased extinction ratio can be obtained by concatenating structures. Furthermore, we show this concept can be expanded to a polarization splitter.     

Ultracompact and silicon-on-insulator-compatible polarization splitter based on asymmetric plasmonic–dielectric coupling

An ultracompact and silicon-on-insulator-compatible polarization splitter (PS) is proposed by utilizing asymmetric directional coupling between a hybrid plasmonic waveguide and a strip dielectric waveguide. Owing to the plasmon-assisted asymmetry, birefringence is highly enhanced. Polarization splitting can be realized by strong coupling of one polarization while the other polarization is phase-mismatched. As an example, a PS based on strong TM coupling is demonstrated at the wavelength of 1.55 μm with a coupling length of 4.13 μm. Extinction ratios are 20.9 and 16.4 dB for TM and TE polarizations, respectively. The device is also broadband and fabrication-tolerant.     

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.     

Design of a compact polarization beam splitter based on a deformed photonic crystal directional coupler

In this paper a compact polarization beam splitter based on a deformed photonic crystal directional coupler is designed and simulated. The transverse-electric （TE） guided mode and transverse-magnetic （TM） guided mode are split due to different guiding mechanisms. The effect of the shape deformation of the air holes on the coupler is studied. It discovered that the coupling strength of the coupled waveguldes is strongly enhanced by introducing elliptical airholes, which reduce the device length to less than 18.Sttm. A finite-difference tlme-domain simulation is performed to evaluate the performance of the device, and the extinction ratios for both TE and TM polarized light are higher than 20 dB.     

High-performance and fabrication friendly polarization demultiplexer

A compact and fabrication friendly polarization demultiplexer (P-DEMUX) is proposed and characterized to enable wavelength-division-multiplexing and polarization-division-multiplexing simultaneously. The proposed structure is composed of a polarization-selective microring resonator in ultrathin waveguide and two bus channels in the silicon nitride-silica-silicon horizontal slot waveguides. In the slot waveguide, the transverse electric (TE) mode propagates through the silicon layer, while the transverse magnetic (TM) mode is confined in the slot region. In the designed ultra-thin waveguide, the TM mode is cut-off. The effective indexes of the TE modes for ultrathin and slot waveguides have comparable values. Thanks for these distinguishing features, the input TE mode can be efficiently filtered through the ultra-thin microring at the resonant wavelength, while the TM mode can directly output from the through port. Simulation results show that the extinction ratio of the proposed P-DEMUX for TE and TM modes are 33.21 dB and 24.97 dB, and the insertion losses are 0.346 dB and 0.324 dB, respectively, at the wavelength of 1551.64 nm. Furthermore, the device shows a broad bandwidth ($>100$ nm) for an extinction ratio (ER) of $>20$ dB. In addition, the proposed P-DEMUX also has a good fabrication tolerance for the waveguide width variation of $-20$ nm$\le \Delta w_{\rm g}\le 20$ nm and the microring width variation of $-20$ nm$\le \Delta w_{\rm r}\le $20 nm for a low insertion loss of $<0.75$ dB and low ER of $<-18$ dB.     

T-shaped polarization beam splitter based on two-dimensional photonic crystal waveguide structures

A T-shaped polarization beam splitter based on two-dimensional photonic crystal is proposed, which is composed of three waveguides: one input and two output. Unpolarized beams incident from the input port will be separated into two different polarization modes and outputted individually by two different coupling structures. Simulation results can be obtained by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. In the normalized frequency range of 0.3456 < \(\omega \alpha /2\pi {}c\) < 0.37, multiple frequencies can obtain high transmission efficiency simultaneously for both TE and TM modes. And the degree of polarization is very closed to 1 for both output ports at this frequency range. When the normalized frequency \(f=0.3534 \omega \alpha /2\pi {}c\), the transmission efficiency, respectively, is 88 % and \(91\) % for TE modes and TM modes. The extinction ratio is all 30dB for both modes. The polarization beam splitter attains the requirement we expected by analyzing simulation results.     

A polarization splitter based on slow light effect in a left-handed material waveguide

We propose a polarization splitter (PS) based on the slow light effect in a three-layer waveguide that consists of left-handed material (LHM) and dielectric layers with no birefringence. Transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) waves can be split by the intrinsic configuration of permittivity and permeability of LHM and dielectric layers. Simulation results are given to discuss the influence of electromagnetic parameters on the properties of our PS, and the capture and release of TE or TM waves are also realized in our PS which provides a flexible method to modulate the switching of different polarization waves.     

基于自准直效应的光子晶体异质结偏振分束器

基于光子晶体的自准直效应和禁带特性,提出了一种具有非正交异质结结构的光子晶体偏振分束器.无需引入缺陷或波导,可使光波在该结构中准直无发散地传输并实现分束功能,对制造工艺的要求大大降低.利用Rsoft软件,结合平面波展开法和二维时域有限差分法,对提出的偏振分束器进行了仿真研究.结果表明,该偏振分束器在一个较大的频率范围f=0.275—0.285(a/λ)内可实现横电(TE)和横磁(TM)模的大角度偏振分离,TE和TM模的透过率均在88%以上,偏振消光比分别大于26.57 dB和17.50 dB.该结构可应用到太赫兹波段的传输系统中,a=26μm,尺寸大小为572μm×546μm,在91—95μm波长范围内可实现TE和TM模的分离.利用该结构可设计用于光通信系统(n=3.48)的偏振分束器,a=426.25 nm,结构仅为9.38μm×8.95μm.本方案结构简单,易于集成,有望在集成光路的发展中发挥重要作用.     

Fabrication and performance of a medium-dependent SiO2/Si photonic heterostructure device

An optical device based on a photonic bandgap heterostructure is designed, fabricated, and characterized. The sample contains two sets of Si/SiO2 photonic crystals with different periods. When the device is working in air, it reflects omnidirectionally both TE and TM mode lights at the wavelength near 1.3 microm. The reflectivity measured in the bandgap is higher than 98% in an incident angle range 0 degrees-70 degrees. When the device is surrounded with silica (n > 1.33), it permits the total transmission for the TM mode but prevents the TE mode from propagating, thus behaving as a polarization splitter. The experimental extinction ratio of the reflected TE/TM is approximately 31 dB. The uniformity of the device performance over a large sample area is demonstrated.     

Ultra-compact polarization beam splitter based on photonic crystal waveguides

The authors design an ultra-compact all-PC-integrated polarization beam splitter which is only composed of three waveguides: one input waveguide and two output waveguides. The input waveguide can support both TM and TE modes, but one of the two output waveguides can only support TM modes while the other can only support TE modes. So an incident beam will be separated into two different polarization beams which emerge from different output waveguides. By the simulation of finite-difference time-domain method, we know that the polarization beam splitter really works the way as we predict.     

A novel Y-branch waveguide for power dividing and mode splitting

A novel Y-branch waveguide for variable-ratio power dividing and transverse electrical-transverse magnetic (TE-TM) mode splitting depending on the applied voltage is presented. The Y-branch waveguide is formed by two closely coupled waveguides tabricated by nickel indiffusion (NI) and by magnesium-oxide induced lithium outdiffusion (MILO) in a y-cut lithium niobate (LiNbO₃) substrate. The TE component of the randomly polarized light is tuned between these two waveguides, such that the device can be either a power divider or a mode splitter depending on the applied voltage. The measured TE mode extinction ratio is about 20 dB.     

Polarization beam splitter using a binary blazed grating coupler

A novel polarization beam splitter using a two-layer grating coupler is proposed and demonstrated. It can directly couple the normally incident light from fiber into two separate waveguides according to their polarization states while splitting them. It realizes high coupling efficiency and a good extinction ratio by using binary blazed grating couplers. The coupling length is less than 14 microm. The extinction ratio is better than 20 dB for both polarizations over a 40 nm wavelength range, and the coupling efficiencies for the two layers are 58% and 50%.     

硅基槽式微环谐振腔型偏振解复用器全矢量分析

提出一种紧凑型偏振解复用器, 其中两条常规硅基波导作为输入/输出信号通道, 居于其中的槽式微环谐振腔用于偏振态/波长选择组件. 采用全矢量频域有限差分法详细分析了硅基常规及槽波导的模式特性, 结果发现其横磁模的模场布及其有效折射率相似, 而其横电模相应的特性则差异明显, 结果输入横磁模能够在谐振工作波长下从下路端口输出, 而输入横电模与微环耦合可以忽略, 直接从直通端口输出, 从而实现两偏振态的高效分离. 采用全矢量时域有限差分法详细分析了该偏振解复用器的光波传输特性, 结果表明, 当微环半径为3.489 μm时, 在1.55 μm工作波长下, 横磁模与横电模的消光比与插入损耗分别为 ～ 26.12 (36.67) dB与 ～ 0.49 (0.09) dB. 另外, 论文详细讨论了器件关键结构参数的制作容差, 并给出了输入模场在器件中的传输演变情况.     

八边形晶格双芯光子晶体光纤偏振分束器

分别以碲玻璃和SF6玻璃作为基质材料,设计制作了一种基于双折射效应的新型八边形晶格双芯光子晶体光纤偏振分束器。应用全矢量有限元法（FEM）分析了碲玻璃和SF6两种双芯光子晶体光纤中结构参数对双折射和相对耦合长度特性的影响,数值模拟了碲玻璃和SF6两种偏振分束器的性能。结果表明：在碲玻璃和SF6两种双芯光子晶体光纤中,增大椭圆率可同时增加结构的双折射和相对耦合长度,与SF6玻璃偏振分束器相比较,碲玻璃偏振分束器具有更高的消光比和更大的带宽,即在工作波长为1.55 μm处,消光比达到最小值-53.46 dB,且消光比小于-20 dB的带宽为120 nm。     

新型高效偏振光分束器的设计

研究及分析了光波在分束结构中的传播行为和特性,发现当增大波导邻近两侧空气孔半径时,能形成完全光子禁带范围内某一频率光波单一偏振态的传播,基于此原理提出了一种全新结构的偏振光分束器,计算与模拟结构表明,该结构可以实现TE模与TM模高效大角度分离. 器件尺寸不超过17.6 μm×9.8 μm,在集成光回路中无疑有着很大的应用潜力. 关键词： 光子晶体 偏振光分束器 时域有限差分法 平面波展开法     

High extinction ratio metal-insulator-semiconductor waveguide surface plasmon polariton polarizer

The attenuation characteristics of a multilayer metal clad GaAs-AlGaAs optical waveguide polarizer are theoretically investigated. The dispersion relations and field distribution of the multilayer structures are calculated for different geometrical parameters and material properties. The polarizer studied consists of a single mode finite/infinite metal clad GaAs-AlGaAs waveguide with a dielectric (SiO₂/Si₃N₄) buffer layer inserted between the metal and the waveguide.Conventionally, the TM polarized waves are found to exhibit an absorption peak at a particular buffer thickness (called critical buffer thickness).We shall show that the maximum TM absorption can be improved by a multiple factor up to 7 by choosing a buffer layer thicker than its critical value. This corresponds to an extinction ratio of 1470 dB for a polarizer length of 1 mm. Further, thicker buffers reduce the insertion losses and values as low as 0.1 dB can be obtained. The strong TM absorption in these structures is interpreted as resonant coupling of the guided mode to the lossy surface plasmon polariton supported by the thin metal film. Thicker buffer also reduces the TE losses (insertion losses) and hence increases the extinction ratio (ratio of TM to TE losses).This can be achieved by optimizing the buffer and the metal thicknesses. Another equally efficient polarizer can be designed by positioning a dielectric (same as buffer) layer (superstrate layer) above the metal film and then optimizing the buffer, metal and the superstrate thicknesses. We also show that the proposed polarizer with the superstrate layer is highly stable even when exposed to the extreme atmospheric changes.