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.     

Wavelength-dispersive device based on a Fourier-transform Michelson-type arrayed waveguide grating

We propose a new type of arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) device that operates as a Fourier-transform (FT) spectrometer without the need of scanning elements. The large input aperture size typical of a FT spectrometer eliminates the requirement for a narrow single-mode input waveguide while still achieving high spectral resolution with a markedly increased light-gathering capability (etendue). An example of the device with a resolution of 0.07 nm (approximately 10 GHz) and designed for a silicon-on-insulator platform is presented. The calculated spectra show no noticeable deterioration for aperture widths as large as 40 microm, yielding more than a 50-fold increase in aperture size compared with conventional AWG or echelle grating based devices at the equivalent resolution.     

Novel wavelength-accurate InP-based arrayed waveguide grating

A 13-channel, InP-based arrayed waveguide grating （AWG） is designed and fabricated in which the on-chip loss of the central channel is about -5 dB and the crosstalk is less than -23 dB in the center of the spectrum response. However, the central wavelength and channel spacing are deviated from the design values. To improve their accuracy, an optimized design is adopted to compensate the process error. As a result, the central wavelength 1549.9 nm and channel spacing 1.59 nm are obtained in the experiment, while their design values are 1549.32 nm and 1.6 nm, respectively. The route capability and thermo-optic characteristic of the AWG are also discussed in detail.     

Design and fabrication of multi-channel photodetector array monolithic with arrayed waveguide grating

We have provided optical simulations of the evanescently coupled waveguide photodiodes integrated with a 13-channels AWGs. The photodiode could exhibit high internal efficiency by appropriate choice of layers geometry and refractive index. Aseamless joint structure has been designed and fabricated for integrating the output waveguides of AWGs with the evanescently coupled waveguide photodiode array. The highest simulation quantum efficiency could achieve 92% when the matching layer thickness of the PD is 120 nm and the insertion length is 2 μm. The fabricated PD with 320-nm-thick matching layer and 2-μm-length insertion matching layer present a responsivity of 0.87 A/W.     

Low-crosstalk silicon photonics arrayed waveguide grating

In this Letter,we demonstrate a 1×4 low-crosstalk silicon photonics cascaded arrayed waveguide grating,which is fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator wafer with a 220-nm-thick top silicon layer and a 2μm buried oxide layer.The measured on-chip transmission loss of this cascaded arrayed waveguide grating is～4.0 dB,and the fiber-towaveguide coupling loss is 1.8 dB/facet.The measured channel spacing is 6.4 nm.The adjacent crosstalk by characterization is very low,only -33.2 dB.Compared to the normal single silicon photonics arrayed waveguide grating with a crosstalk of ～-12.5 dB,the crosstalk of more than 20 dB is dramatically improved in this cascaded device.     

Multi-wavelength pulse generation using flattop optical frequency comb and arrayed waveguide grating

A scheme of multi-wavelength pulse generator using optical frequency comb and arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. A flattop optical frequency comb is shaped into multiple narrowband Gaussian spectra by using an AWG which contains a number of Gaussian channels, and then multi-wavelength optical pulses are achieved. In the experiment, six wavelength pulses with full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 14.6 ps at 10 GHz are obtained, and two wavelength-interleaved pulse trains at 20 GHz and four wavelength-interleaved pulse trains at 40 GHz are demonstrated by using the multi-wavelength optical pulses. This scheme has flexibility because the pulse width, the repetition rate, and time-interval can be readily controlled.     

Performance analysis of metro WDM network based on an optical cross connects and arrayed waveguide grating demultiplexer

In this paper, we have demonstrated the quality-of-service offered by the metropolitan area network which is based on optical cross connect (OXC) and arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) demultiplexer operating at 10 Gb/s with 0.1 nm channel spacing for NRZ signal transmission. The data is successfully transmitted to a distance of 40 km with a reasonably good BER of 2.388 × 10⁻³⁵. The OXC and AWG demultiplexers in the proposed architecture allow incremental expansion in terms of the number of wavelength channels to be transmitted. Dispersion and crosstalk are the main signal-degrading factors arising from the operation of the OXC and the effectiveness of each factor is individually investigated.     

Highly directional waveguide grating antenna for optical phased array

A highly directional waveguide grating antenna by patterning top cladding has been proposed. Spatial separation of the grating structure from the waveguide reduces the strength of perturbation to achieve a millimeter-scale emission. The optimized grating structure offers above 70% directionality with 800 nm waveguide width. The vertical field-of-view of 15° is achieved with 100 nm wavelength bandwidth. Thanks to the its simple structure and large critical dimension, the proposed structure is suitable for manufacturing in CMOS foundries with DUV lithography.     

Large capacity optical router based on arrayed waveguide gratings and optical loop buffer

This paper presents optical packet switch architecture with large buffering capacity for the contention resolution of the packets. The main feature of the architecture is no requirement of Demux/Mux and splitter/combiner which are used in most of the other loop buffer based switch architectures. Therefore physical loss of the architecture is very less, and switch performance is not limited by the physical degradation of the signal. In the buffer, TWCs/SOAs are replaced by Tunable Fiber Bragg Gratings (TFBGs). The use of TFBGs inside the buffer is a novel approach towards buffering structure. The architecture presented here can be modeled as output queue buffer scheme. This paper investigates the advantages of the proposed architecture over the earlier architecture. The performance of the architecture in terms of physical layer parameters (loss analysis, power analysis and noise analysis), packaging volume and optical cost is done.     

Design of a polarization-insensitive arrayed waveguide grating demultiplexer based on silicon photonic wires

The polarization dependence of an arrayed waveguide grating demultiplexer based on Si photonic wires is analyzed. The height and width of the arrayed waveguides are optimized to make the channel spacing polarization insensitive. To make the central wavelength polarization insensitive, different diffraction orders are chosen for TE and TM polarizations, and the remaining polarization-dependent wavelength is compensated with a noncentral input. A detailed design procedure is presented and numerical simulation results are given.     

Digital optical switch based on amorphous silicon waveguide

In this paper, the performance of a digital optical switch, operating at the infrared communications wavelength of 1550 nm and based on the thermo-optic effect in amorphous silicon, are investigated. We prove that the strong thermo-optic effect of amorphous silicon, combined with the possibility of realising micrometric integrated structures, allow the design of promising integrated switches. The device, designed for low-cost photonic applications, could be easily integrated in silicon optoelectronic circuits.     

阵列波导光栅梳状带通滤波器的传输效率

在光波导模场分布高斯近似条件下,根据星形光波导耦合器的耦合特性,推导出了基于累加运算和卷积运算近似表达的阵列波导光栅梳状带通滤波器光谱响应效率的函数表达式。给出了阵列波导光栅梳状带通滤波器光谱响应效率曲线的半最大值全宽度和阵列波导光栅梳状带通滤波器的通道中心波长的光谱响应度与器件参数的关系。在输入信号光谱分布高斯近似条件下,给出了阵列波导光栅梳状带通滤波器信号通道传输效率的计算表达式和输入信号光谱宽度对阵列波导光栅梳状带通滤波器信号通道输出特性的影响。给出了物理意义明确的函数表达式,它们可为快速分析阵列波导光栅梳状带通滤波器的特性提供理论基础。     

Modeling of arrayed waveguide grating for wavelength interrogation application

We have proposed and discussed a design of arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) for the application of wavelength interrogation. The spectral responses of a silica-based 16 channel AWG with channel spacing 1.6 nm have been simulated when different receiver waveguide spacing are used. It was found that the 3-dB bandwidth is reduced about 50% as the receiver waveguide spacing increasing from 20 μm to 30 μm. The effect of bandwidth of the spectral response on wavelength resolution of AWG based interrogator has been estimated and discussed.     

Analysis for fabrication errors of arrayed waveguide grating multiplexers

Based on the transmission theory, parameter optimization is performed, and effects of fabrication errors on transmission characteristics are analyzed for a 33×33 polymer arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) multiplexer around the central wavelength of 1550.918 nm with the wavelength spacing of 0.8 nm. Simulated results show that fabrication errors result in the shift of the transmission spectrum, and lead to the increase of the crosstalk compared with the device theoretically designed. Furthermore, accumulation and compensation of fabrication errors are investigated. In order to realize the normal demultiplexing of the fabricated AWG device, the allowed fabrication errors are discussed.     

Interrogating fiber Bragg grating sensors by thermally scanning a demultiplexer based on arrayed waveguide gratings

We evaluate a wavelength interrogation technique based on an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG). Initial results show that the Bragg wavelength of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors can be precisely interrogated by thermally scanning an AWG-based demultiplexer. The technique potentially offers a low-cost, compact, and high-performance solution for the interrogation of FBG distributed sensors and multisensor arrays.     

Combined optical dispersion by prism and arrayed waveguide grating with multiple diffraction orders for Raman spectrometer

A compact dispersive device for Raman spectrometer was proposed to achieve a spectrum resolution below 0.55 nm in the spectral range of 800 to 1000 nm. A 41-channel arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) with eleven different diffraction orders was designed, and each output channel of this AWG contained eleven light signals with periodically 20 nm spaced wavelength. These signals were further cross-dispersed by a prism, and finally form a 41 × 11 spots array on a CCD. The detailed theoretical analysis and simulation of this dispersive device were introduced in this paper. Compared with commercial dispersive modules composed of grating, lens, and mirrors, the proposed structure is able to provide a compact device with higher spectrum resolution, which is attractive for handheld Raman spectrometer.     

Design and fabrication of arrayed waveguide grating using fluoropolymer PFS-co-GMA

A 33×33 polymer arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) multiplexer is optimized and fabricated. This device is made of polymeric materials named 2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorostyrene-co-glycidylmethacrylate (PFS-co-GMA). The central wavelength and wavelength spacing are designed to be 1550.918 and 0.8 nm, respectively. The calculated results are: the 3-dB bandwidth is about 0.24 nm, insertion loss is about 8.4 dB and crosstalk is −33.7 dB. The corresponding measured results are: the center wavelength is about 1550.85 nm, wavelength channel spacing is about 0.81 nm, 3-dB bandwidth is about 0.35 nm, crosstalk is about −20 dB, insertion loss is between 10.4 dB for the central port and 11.9 dB for the edge ports.     

A wide-band polymeric electro-optic modulator array based on unidirectional coupling between multi-mode waveguide array and a vertical configured dumping planar waveguide

A polymeric wide-band electro-optic (EO) modulator array based on unidirectional mode-coupling between the guiding multi-mode waveguide array and a vertical configured planar dumping waveguide was developed. A low insertion loss of <1.7 dB was obtained due to asymmetrically designed guiding waveguide and the dumping waveguide. A modulation depth of 91% was achieved with the device length of 3.5 cm at a low driving voltage of 3.2 V. The employment of the dumping planar waveguide not only provides an efficient way to achieve the unidirectional coupling mechanism, but also effectively confines the light coupled from the guiding waveguides within the planar dumping waveguide. The combination of unidirectional coupling and light confinement effects ensures low cross talk of <22 dB between adjacent guiding waveguides. Since the proposed modulator is based on the unidirectional coupling mechanism, it is intrinsically wide-band. A wide-band operation from 1308 to 1324 nm was experimentally obtained. The unidirectional mode-coupling-based wide-band modulation principle can be readily applied to other wavelengths, such as 1330 and 1550 nm ranges.     

Compact SOI arrayed waveguide grating demultiplexer with broad spectral response

A compact eight-channel flat spectral response arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) multiplexer based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) materials has been fabricated on the planar lightwave circuit (PLC). The 1-dB bandwidth of 48 GHz and 3-dB bandwidth of 69 GHz are obtained for the 100 GHz channel spacing. Not only non-adjacent crosstalk but also adjacent crosstalk are less than −25 dB. The on-chip propagation loss range is from 3.5 to 3.9 dB, and the total device size is 1.5 × 1.0 cm².     

Design of flat-field arrayed waveguide grating with three stigmatic points

A new-type flat-field arrayed waveguide grating (AWG), with the focal signals of all wavelengths of operation focusing along a straight line, has been designed. The work bases on the aberration theory of AWG, in which the restraints imposed on the conventional Rowland-type AWG have been released. In the design of flat-field AWG, three stigmatic points restrain three dominant geometry parameters: geometry of star couplers, ports distribution of phased-array, and length increment between adjacent paths. An eight-channel 200-GHz spacing flat-field AWG has been designed and simulated. As stigmatic points introduced, the aberration of this device is much lower than that of the Rowland-type AWG.