A bridged waveguide intersection in two-dimensional photonic crystal structures

In this work we introduce a symmetric waveguide intersection in photonic crystal structures, which passes the optical power entering from each one of its four ports, directly to the forward port. This junction allows designers to easier and more efficient design of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and to create bridge-junctions in a 13.3 μm² area with just one linear material in its construction. The minimum pass to stop contrast ratio is 26 db with an 18.1 nm bandwidth for contrast ratio over 15 db. Conformal finite difference time domain (CFDTD) method has been used to analysis the system and numerically demonstrates its working.     

2D FDTD simulation of low loss small angle bend and Y branch configurations in a photonic crystal waveguide layout with a Mach–Zehnder device design configuration

A technique to produce low loss small angle bends in photonic crystal waveguides is presented. The technique consists of bridging parallel input and output waveguide segments with an inclined waveguide region of the same basic design that has a lateral dielectric shift. Results are presented for waveguides produced by enlarging the silicon gap along the central line, separating air holes in a square array photonic crystal for the TE polarization and an operating wavelength of λ_o = 1.55 μm. This low loss waveguide bending technique is applied to the design of Y branch and Mach–Zehnder photonic crystal structures. Simulation of the performance of the dielectric structures is achieved using 2-D FDTD, similar results are anticipated when applied to 3-D waveguide configurations and for other photonic crystal layouts.     

Novel slow-light waveguide with large bandwidth and ultra low dispersion

To tailor the bandwidth and the group-velocity dispersion, we demonstrate a novel waveguide based on a photonic crystal within a triangular array with crescent-like-shaped air holes. By changing the angle between the waveguide axis and symmetric axis of the air hole from 0 to π/2, we find that the available bandwidth with a nearly constant group index in excess of 22 increases from 7 nm to 13 nm, that the corresponding normalized delay-bandwidth product increases from 0.202 to 0.245, and that the absolute value of the group-velocity dispersion decreases from 13.500 ps²/km to 10 ps²/km. The origin of all the findings is related to the widening of the slow-light region with the increasing of the angle.     

Ultra-broad and flat supercontinuum generation in short photonic crystal fiber combined with conventional fibers

In order to gain ultra-broad and flat super-continuum (SC) spectrum, we propose and demonstrate a new scheme. By coupling a train of short pulses with 100 fs width and 16.2 mW average power generated by a mode-locked laser into the scheme – short photonic crystal fiber (PCF) combined with conventional fibers. The SC spectrum has 491 nm bandwidth at −15 dBm below the spectral peak with ±0.5 dBm uniformity 100 nm in only 0.45 m PCF. The spectral bandwidth generated in the scheme increases 292 nm than spectrum generated in the two conventional fibers, and increases 152 nm than spectrum generated in the three convention fibers.     

980 nm Yb-doped double-clad photonic crystal fiber amplifier and its frequency doubling

In this paper, we report on a large-mode-area double-clad 980 nm Yb-doped photonic crystal fiber (PCF) amplifier. In the experiment, an output power of 1.21 W at 980 nm with 2.5 nm bandwidth has been yielded when the PCF length was 40 cm. Through frequency doubling the 980 nm amplified laser with a BIBO crystal, an output power of 51 mW at 490 nm has been generated.     

Supercontinuum broadening in all-normal dispersion photonic crystal fiber by means of soliton compression in standard single-mode fiber

Using standard single-mode fiber as high-order soliton compressor for broadening supercontinuum in an 80 m long all-normal dispersion photonic crystal fiber is investigated experimentally and numerically. An analytical formula for calculating proper fiber input power to generate the broadest supercontinuum is derived. The numerical results show that the formula is more accurate in high power level corresponding to the soliton order which is larger than two. The measured supercontinuum ? 20 dB bandwidth is broadened from 84.2 nm to 277.1 nm by using a 20 m long standard single-mode fiber without enhancing fiber input power. Numerical calculations of the amplitude noise in the output spectra show that using soliton compression effect can efficiently broaden the spectral bandwidth and not generate obvious noises.     

Ultrasmall optical logic gates based on silicon periodic dielectric waveguides

An ultrasmall silicon periodic dielectric waveguides-based multimode interference all-optical logic gate has been proposed. The device consists of three 205 nm wide single-mode input waveguides, a 1.1 μm wide and 5.5 μm long multimode interference waveguide, and three 205 nm wide single-mode output waveguides. The total length and width of the device are 13.7 μm and 3.2 μm, respectively. By changing the states of the input optical signals and/or control signals launched into the device, multifunctional logic functions including OR, NAND, NOR, and NOT gates are performed, and each logic function can be realized at a specific output waveguide in accordance with the launched control signals. The ultrasmall multifunctional logic device has potential applications in high density photonic integrated circuits.     

Improved flatness and tunable bandwidth of the supercontinuum generation in all-normal dispersion-flattened PCF using Littman–Metcalf optical bandpass filter

We have proved that in an all-normal dispersion-flattened photonic crystal fiber (PCF), the four-wave mixing (FWM) process dominantly affects the flatness of the generated supercontinuum (SC). The numerical results show that pulses with steepened edges can enhance the FWM conversion efficiency during the SC’s generation and the minima of the spectral oscillatory structure will be smoothed. A double-pass Littman–Metcalf optical bandpass filter is used to make the 1.60 ps hyperbolic-Secant shaped pulses obtain steepened edges. The experimental results show that the flatness of the SC generated from the 4 nm filtered pulses is improved by 0.21 dB. The SC with 10–65 nm tunable bandwidths is obtained by adjusting the filter bandwidth from 1 nm to 7 nm. Further numerical results show that the filter induced SC’s flatness improvement is more effective for pulses with 2.0–4.0 ps FWHM. The improved SC can be used for applications which require stable modulation carriers and flexible bandwidth.     

Broadband super-collimation with low-symmetric photonic crystal

We investigate dispersive properties of two dimensional photonic crystal (PC) called star-shaped PC (STAR-PC) in order to succeed super-collimation over a broad bandwidth. Both time- and frequency-domain numerical methods are conducted. Due to introduced low-symmetry in the primitive cell, flat contours are observed at the fifth band for transverse magnetic mode. The proposed structure supports a super-collimation effect over a broad wavelength range between 1443 nm and 1701 nm with a bandwidth of Δω = 16.42%. The intrinsic characteristic of STAR-PC provides in-plane beam propagation with a limited diffraction length of 120a, where a is the lattice constant. By means of STAR-PC, one may realize super-collimation based single-mode optical devices with a low insertion loss, reduced dispersion and wide bandwidth.     

Compact and efficient coupler to interface hybrid dielectric-loaded plasmonic waveguide with silicon photonic slab waveguide

A coupler is proposed to interface a hybrid dielectric-loaded plasmonic waveguide (HDLPW) with a silicon photonic slab waveguide. The HDLPW is firstly designed and optimized to attain the best tradeoff between the mode confinement and the propagation distance. The designed coupler is inspired from the taper configuration and numerically modeled through finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation. The results demonstrate that a high confinement and low loss of the energy is achieved from a silicon photonic slab waveguide into the dielectric slot of area 50×200 nm² in the HDLPW. The transmission attained through the coupler with a compact size of 400 nm is found to be as high as 80% (1 dB). Further, the planar nature of taper configuration makes the coupler easy to fabricate using the state-of-the-art CMOS facilities. The proposed coupler is useful in enabling the integration between photonic and hybrid plasmonic waveguides and thus realizing on-chip hybrid integrated circuits.     

Color filters featuring high transmission efficiency and broad bandwidth based on resonant waveguide-metallic grating

A one-dimensional transmission color filter based on a resonant waveguide-metallic subwavelength grating was numerically investigated by employing rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) and genetic algorithm (GA). The hybrid numerical method is used to determine the optimal parameters (the grating period, filling factor, grating thickness, and waveguide thickness) of two waveguide-grating structures, namely a double-layer resonant waveguide-metallic grating and a triple-layer resonant waveguide-metallic grating. The optical responses of these structures are evaluated and compared in terms of the ideal transmission efficiency aiming at the central wavelengths of 645 nm, 546 nm, and 455 nm of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) lights, respectively, over the visible region (380–780 nm). The results show that the optical performance of the double-layer with silver grating achieves the highest transmission efficiency of 82% (R), 81% (G), and 66% (B); and the largest bandwidth of about 125 nm (R), 118 nm (G), and 85 nm (B). Compared with existing color filters, the proposed device not only obtains a higher transmission and broader bandwidth, but it also suppresses redundant spectral peaks and transmission sidebands.     

A novel polarization splitter based on dual-core elliptical-holes hybrid photonic crystal fiber

A novel kind of polarization splitter in dual-core elliptical holes hybrid photonic crystal fiber is proposed. Numerical results show that the splitter can reach small coupling length ratio of 0.5, for wavelength from 1.15 μm to 1.9 μm. At wavelength 1.55 μm, the extinction ratio can achieve ?64 dB and the 1.92-mm-long splitter is suggested to achieve extinction ratio better than ?10 dB, a bandwidth of 150 nm. The fiber has small coupling length ratio, small coupling length and high extinction ratio and it is more suitable for fabricating polarization splitter.     

Arrayed waveguide grating-based demultiplexer with two central wavelengths

In this paper we have presented an arrayed waveguide grating with two central wavelengths, 1550.12 nm and 1310.12 nm. Introducing a novel architecture for outputs of system, if input light to arrayed waveguide grating consists of wavelengths around 1550.12 nm, proposed system will act as 16 channels demultiplexer with channel spacing of 1.6 nm. On the other hand when input wavelengths are distributed around 1310.12 nm, the same arrayed waveguide grating will divide the input to 27 channels with channel spacing of 0.68 nm.     

Characterization of photonic nanojets in dielectric microdisks

The direct imaging of photonic nanojets in different dielectric microdisks illuminated by a laser source is reported. The SiO₂ and Si₃N₄ microdisks are of height 650 nm with diameters ranging from 3 μm to 8 μm. The finite-difference time-domain calculation is used to execute the numerical simulation for the photonic nanojets in the dielectric microdisks. The photonic nanojet measurements are performed with a scanning optical microscope system. The photonic nanojets with high intensity spots and low divergence are observed in the dielectric microdisks illuminated from the side with laser source of wavelengths 405 nm, 532 nm and 671 nm. The experimental results of key parameters are compared to the simulations and in agreement with theoretical results. Our studies show that photonic nanojets can be efficiently created by a dielectric microdisk and straightforwardly applied to nano-photonics circuit.     

High-bandwidth and low-loss photonic crystal power-splitter with parallel output based on the integration of Y-junction and waveguide bends

A 1×2 power-splitter with parallel output that exhibits high-bandwidth and low-loss splitting for TE-polarized light is designed based on a photonic crystal slab in a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) material. The high performance is achieved by the integration of a Y-junction and 60° waveguide bends, which is designed to ensure single-mode operation, and keep the output channels of the power-splitter be parallel to the input channel. With a three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (3D-FDTD) technique, ultralow-loss output of the optimized power-splitter with normalized transmission above 45% (in the range 3.216±0.18 dB) is obtained in the high-bandwidth range 1472–1634 nm, which covers the entire C-band of optical communication. In addition, the simulation results demonstrate that when the manufacture error of the lattice shift (dx) is in the range of ±10 nm, the disturbance of the transmission and the bandwidth are 1.52% and 6.79%, respectively. Both the specific result and the general idea of integration design are promising in the optical integrated circuit (OIC) and integrated optical devices in the future.     

Soliton propagation optimization and dynamic modulation in photonic crystal waveguide with polystyrene background

Bright optical soliton propagation properties near the left band edge of photonic crystal waveguide (PCW) are numerically investigated. Compared with the normal PCW with air background, by employing polystyrene as PCW background and adjusting the structure parameters simultaneously, the required soliton peak power sharply decreases from 8.63 × 10⁶ W/m to 9.98 × 10² W/m. The influence of optical loss on soliton propagation is numerically investigated. The dynamic modulation of the soliton propagation in PCW is realized, and a modulation range of 459 nm wavelength for the soliton transmission has been achieved. Simulation results show that the transmission wavelength, required soliton peak power and delay time decrease almost linearly as the external modulated voltage increases; the modulation sensitivities are 8.316 nm/V, 3.416 W/m/V and 16.6 ps/V, respectively.     

Novel ultracompact wavelength division demultiplexer based on photonic band gap

We propose ultra-compact wavelength division demultiplexer based on photonic band gap in two dimensional photonic crystals. The structure consists of two different types of lattice, which can separate two communication wavelengths, 1310 and 1490 nm. In addition, it also can be used to separate the wavelengths of 1310 and 1550 nm if we change the structural parameters. The total size of the present structure is only 12.5 μm × 12.5 μm. The transmission efficiency is above 97%, and the good performance is verified with plane wave expansion and finite-difference time-domain simulation.     

Real-space observation of photonic nanojet in dielectric microspheres

The three-dimensional real-space observation of photonic nanojet in different microspheres illuminated by a laser is reported. The finite-difference time-domain technique is used to perform the three-dimensional numerical simulation for the dielectric microspheres. The key parameters of photonic nanojet are measured by using a scanning optical microscope system. We reconstruct the three-dimensional real-space photonic nanojets from the collected stack of scanning images for polystyrene microspheres of 3 μm, 5 μm, and 8 μm diameters deposited on a glass substrate. Experimental results are compared to calculations and are found in good agreement with simulation results. The full width at half-maximum of the nanojet is 331 nm for a 3 μm microsphere at an incident wavelength of 633 nm. Our investigations show that photonic nanojets can be efficiently imaged by a microsphere and straightforwardly extended to rapidly distinguish the nano-objects in the far-field optical system.     

Design of a compact polarization splitter based on the dual-elliptical-core photonic crystal fiber

We propose a compact polarization splitter based on dual-elliptical-core photonic crystal fiber. Two elliptical cores are introduced to increase the difference of effective index between x-polarized and y-polarized mode and three elliptical modulation air holes are used to control the power transfer between the two cores. By optimizing the structure parameters, the length of the polarization splitter is distinctly shortened. Numerical results demonstrate that the compact splitter has the length of 775 μm and up to 50 dB extinction ratio at the central wavelength of 1.55 μm. The corresponding bandwidth of 32 nm could be achieved from the wavelength of 1.534–1.566 μm with the extinction ratio over 20 dB     

A new design of low-loss and ultra-flat zero dispersion photonic crystal fiber using hollow ring defect

New hollow ring defect structure is introduced in photonic crystal fiber design for ultra- flat zero dispersion with very low waveguide losses. The hollow ring defect consisted of a central hole surrounded by a doped silica ring provides highly flexible defect engineering capabilities in photonic crystal fibers to achieve precise control of dispersion value and dispersion slope while independently maintaining low waveguide losses, which was not attainable in previous designs. A nearly flat zero dispersion of D=0±0.51 ps/nm km was obtained in the wavelength range of 1.44–1.61 μm with the maximum slope of ?2.7×10^?2 ps/nm² km. The confinement loss was less than 5.75×10^?8 dB/m along with the bending loss of 2.8×10^?6 dB/m for the radius of 10 mm, and splice loss of less than 1.57 dB to conventional single mode fiber at 1.55 μm.