Design and fabrication of a three-dimensional polymer optical waveguide polarization splitter

We present a design and fabrication of a three-dimensional polymer optical waveguide polarization splitter by taking into consideration of the induced birefringence effect of the polymer. We show that it is not possible to couple TM light from one waveguide to the other but evanescent coupling for TE light is possible. Hence the polarization splitter can be designed by considering TE mode coupling alone. This has an advantage of short interaction length of the device. Based on this consideration, we fabricated a polarization splitter with a TE extinction ratio of 15 dB and TM extinction ratio of 21 dB.     

An improved optical TE-TM mode splitter and modulator using a Ti-LiNbO3 Y-junction waveguide

An optical TE-TM mode splitter and modulator with an improved design using a Y-junction waveguide by Ti-diffusion in a Y-cut LiNbO₃ substrate has been fabricated and characterized. Improvements in fabrication and measurement techniques are discussed. Experimental results on the device characteristics are presented.     

四通道激光干涉仪中二元光学分束器的退偏问题

经理论计算，在四通道激光干涉仪中二元光学分束器的退偏问题通常不会影响仪器的测量精度，实验结果支持这个结论。用其取代传统的棱镜或平板玻璃来分束有着明显的优点。但当光栅周期小于波长量级和测量精度达纳米级时，对其退偏问题要给予充分的考虑。     

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.     

基于热膨胀效应的可调光功率分束器设计

可调光功率分束器是集成光子系统中的重要功能器件,其光功率输出具有动态可调控特性,诸多光子系统对其有着广泛需求.本文基于空隙槽型Y分支波导结构,利用热膨胀效应,提出了一种新型可调光功率分束器实现方法,通过调控温度来改变分支处空隙槽的宽度,以实现其分支波导的光功率输出的动态变化.采用有限元方法,对其热膨胀形变和光学性能进行了模拟分析.其模拟结果表明,该器件能实现大范围光分束调控,且对波长和偏振态依赖性低;同时,该器件具有结构简单、易于设计和制作、易于调控等优点,这种新型器件在各种光子系统中具有重要应用前景.     

薄膜层数对偏振分束棱镜性能的影响

采用电子枪蒸镀离子源辅助技术,讨论了薄膜层数对偏振分束棱镜性能的影响.结果表明:随着薄膜层数的增加,p偏振光的透射率逐渐增大,s偏振光的透射率逐渐减小,p偏振光和s偏振光透射率的比值逐渐增大.     

A planar waveguide beam splitter

A 50:50 beam splitter for the light and matter waves based on a planar waveguide is studied. The light version of such a beam splitter is demonstrated experimentally. Applications of such a beam splitter in atom optics, interferometry and lithography are discussed.     

Higher diffraction order photorefractive optical beam splitter

A higher diffraction order photorefractive (PR) optical beam splitter has been realized based on a PR higher diffraction order grating. In the experiments, the beam splitter was produced by two-wave coupling at a small incident angle in Fe:LiNbO₃ using the output from a He–Ne laser at 632.8 nm. An incident signal beam containing three different wavelengths (632.8, 532.0 and 488.0 nm) was split into multi-output beams by the beam splitter. The size of higher diffraction order is given and the influence of crystal thickness is discussed. Results show that the higher diffraction order PR optical beam splitter provides a practical method to split a multi-wavelength signal beam.     

Modeling of circular integrated optical microresonators by 2-D frequency domain coupled mode theory

Circular integrated optical (ring or disk) microresonators are increasingly employed as compact and versatile wavelength filters. In this paper, we investigate a 2-D frequency domain model for these devices, based on spatial coupled mode theory. The microresonators are functionally represented in terms of two couplers with appropriate connections using bent and straight waveguides. The abstract scattering matrices of the couplers and the propagation constants of the cavity bends allow to compute the spectral responses of the resonators. Capitalizing on the availability of rigorous analytical modal solutions for bent waveguides, the constituent bent-straight waveguide couplers are modeled using a spatial coupled mode formalism derived by means of a variational principle. The resulting scattering matrices show reciprocity properties as expected according to the symmetry of the coupler structures. We present results for the spectral response and field examples for microresonators with mono- and multi-modal cavities for TE and TM polarizations. Comparisons with finite difference time domain simulations show very good overall agreement.     

Splitting-on-demand optical power splitters using multimode interference (MMI) waveguide with programmed modulations

Reconfigurable multi-channel optical power splitter is proposed and its optical properties are calculated. The device can dynamically reconfigure the number of splitting channels by providing programmed refractive index modulations on a multimode interference (MMI) waveguide. A reconfigurable 3-channel optical power splitter is designed to work as 1 × 1, 1 × 2 or 1 × 3 optical power splitter depending on the state of the heat electrodes using thermo-optic modulation, and the input light can be distributed to three output channels with sequential orders. The device can work in the whole C-band (1530-1565 nm) with extinction ratio better than −29.0 dB, excess loss better than −0.45 dB, imbalance better than 0.08 dB and polarization dependent loss (PDL) better than 0.14 dB. The design conception is scalable to a multi-channel splitting-on-demand optical power splitter which can divide input light to 1, 2, …, N output channels equally by using the 3-channel reconfigurable optical power splitter as a building block.     

Study on inverse taper based mode transformer for low loss coupling between silicon wire waveguide and lensed fiber

We have simulated the coupling loss of three types of Inverse Taper and taper-lensed fiber using three dimensional (3D) semi-vectorial beam propagation methods (BPM) respectively. Our results showed that the performances of exponential inverse taper and quadratic inverse taper were better than the commonly used linear inverse taper. Especially, for TM mode the improvement in the reduction of devices size is 53% and 136% for exponential and quadratic inverse taper compared with the linear inverse taper.     

基于TE-TM模变换的新型相位自补偿磁光隔离器

讨论了由45°非互易模变换器与45°互易模变换器构成波导型光隔离器时两者之间须满足的条件,并由此设计了一种新型的相位自补偿磁光隔离器. 利用全矢量有限差分光束传输法对隔离器进行仿真,得到了插入损耗为-12dB,隔离度为-34dB的结果. 关键词： 集成光学 磁光隔离器 非互易模变换器 互易模变换器     

Polarization mode conversion in an optical microdisk resonator vertically coupled to a waveguide bus

Due to the existence of non-zero, and asymmetrics cross-polarization coupling coefficients between a microdisk and a waveguide bus, high Q (∼10,000) overcoupled microdisks with minimal internal losses and sharp bending curvature (small radii) vertically coupled to a narrow-width ridge waveguide can be engineered as a proper candidate for a narrow-band polarization rotator. A semi-analytical calculation method is presented to realize microdisk-waveguide system as a polarization rotator.     

Broadband non-polarizing beam splitter based on guided mode resonance effect

A broadband non-polarizing beam splitter (NPBS) operating in the telecommunication C+L band is designed by using the guided mode resonance effect of periodic silicon-on-insulator (SOI) elements. It is shown that this double layer SOI structure can provide ～50/50 beam ratio with the maximum divergences between reflection and transmission being less than 8% over the spectrum of 1.4 μm～1.7 μm and 1% in the telecommunication band for both TE and TM polarizations. The physical basis of this broadband non-polarizing property is on the simultaneous excitation of the TE and TM strong modulation waveguide modes near the designed spectrum band. Meanwhile, the electric field distributions for both TE and TM polarizations verify the resonant origin of spectrum in the periodic SOI structure. Furthermore, it is demonstrated with our calculations that the beam splitter proposed here is tolerant to the deviations of incident angle and structure parameters, which make it very easy to be fabricated with current IC technology.     

Switchable surface plasmon dichroic splitter modulated by optical polarization

For the miniaturization of optical devices, surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) have been widely utilized due to their outstanding confinement and field‐enhancement characteristics. Analyzing a spectrum of optical signals and splitting certain regions of the spectrum range within a submicrometer‐scale structure are demanded for optical integrated systems. In this paper, a novel type of dichroic surface plasmon launcher that can switch the launching direction according to incident polarization states is demonstrated. Compared to the previously reported plasmonic dichroic splitters, the proposed schemes do not use any asymmetric geometry for directional launching. Hence, the direction of guided SPPs can be interchanged according to the polarization state. Such characteristics will be helpful to design switchable plasmonic devices that can be applied to active plasmonic integrated circuits.     

Considerations on material composition for low-loss hollow-core integrated optical waveguides

The role of cladding bilayer material compositions to obtain low-loss hollow-core integrated optical waveguides was studied. Using the simple Fresnel reflection formulae, the optimal material composition was determined. It is shown that using bilayers with higher index-contrast does not always lead to a lower loss for (quasi-)linearly polarized modes. Based on that knowledge, structures that exhibit very low leakage loss for quasi-TE₀₀ mode are proposed and designed using Si-compatible materials.     

1 × 3 Beam splitter based on self-collimation effect in two-dimensional photonic crystals

The analysis and simulation result of a 1 × 3 beam splitter in a two-dimensional square-lattice photonic crystal is presented in this paper, where the light is self-collimated as dictated by the self-collimation effect. The frequency and the direction of propagation of the self-collimated beam are obtained by the equal-frequency contours (EFCs) plot which is calculated by plane wave expansion method. Then a line defect is introduced by simultaneously varying the radii and the dielectric constant of the rods along the proper direction, the self-collimated beam propagation in such structure is simulated by the two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (2D FDTD) method with perfectly matched layer absorbing boundary conditions. The simulation results show that the self-collimated beam can be split into three beams. With the same principle, a 1 × 7 beam splitter is realized by introducing different line defects along (X direction. Such devices can greatly enhance photonic crystals for usage in high-density optical integrated circuits.     

An ultra-short double-wavelength optical power splitter for two waveguides operation based on photonic crystal multimode interference

In this paper, we design an ultra-short 1 × 2 1310/1550 nm double-waveguide optical power splitter based on photonic crystal multimode interference. The device can be used to divide the input beam equally for both 1310 nm and 1550 nm at the same time. The total multimode waveguide length of this device is only about 13 μm, which is one 210th of the conventional dielectric counterparts reported. On the basis of the guided-mode propagation analysis method, the self-imaging effect is discussed for the case of symmetric incidence. The finite-difference time-domain method is used to simulate the propagation of the beam in the multimode interference. The results show that the repetitive appearances of single image and twofold image of the input field occur alternatively in this device.     

Directly laser-written integrated photonics devices including diffractive optical elements

Femtosecond laser-written integrated devices involving Fresnel Zone Plates (FZPs) and waveguide arrays are demonstrated as built-in optical couplers. These structures were fabricated in borosilicate glass using a direct laser writing technique. The optical properties of these integrated photonic structures were investigated using CW lasers and high-resolution CCDs. For a single FZP coupled to a single waveguide, the overall coupling efficiency was 9%. A multiplexed optical coupler composed of three FZP layers was demonstrated to couple three waveguides simultaneously in a waveguide array. Structures of this type can be used as platforms for multichannel waveguide coupling elements or as microfluidic sensors that require higher light collecting efficiency.     

TE-TM模变换型光波导隔离器的理论研究

利用微扰理论研究了TE-TM模转换型光波导隔离器的自相位补偿. 从相位同步和功率转换解释了这种器件的工作原理, 揭示了两个模转换器相位 失配与模转换比例的关系, 数值仿真结果与理论分析相符, 证实了模转换型 波导隔离器中的自相位补偿理论.