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.     

Optical fiber coupler array for multi-point sound field measurements

A pressure-sensitive device using an optical fiber coupler is proposed, and is integrated into an array system to measure sound field distributions. The optical coupling between two optical fibers is modulated by the applied sound field with the use of a membrane mechanically connected to the coupler. In the array system, a large number of the optical coupler sensors are connected two-dimensionally, and sound pressure at each sensor can be read out by switching the input light sources in turn. A prototype of the basic array system based on this principle was made, and its performance was demonstrated. The signal discrimination between each element was confirmed in a 2x2 array; then, using a four-element linear array, we demonstrated the steering of beam based on the phased array method.     

星形光波导耦合器的耦合特性分析

根据TE0模光波导的本征场分布、瑞利索末菲标量衍射积分公式和激励源与光波导耦合的匹配效率公式,给出光波导端面衍射和耦合的归一化发射系数和接收系数计算公式,推导出光波导端面非接触耦合的耦合效率计算公式。光波导模场分布采用高斯函数近似表达,给出简洁的计算光波导端面非接触耦合的耦合效率函数表达式。最后,基于星形光波导耦合器结构参量的特点,将累加运算采用积分运算近似表达,给出星形光波导耦合器接收光波导总的接收效率与耦合器基本参量的关系,阐明了星形光波导耦合器的耦合特性。     

Hybrid vertical directional coupling between a long range surface plasmon polariton waveguide and a dielectric waveguide

To investigate light coupling between a long range surface plasmon polariton (LRSPP) waveguide and a conventional integrated optical component, a hybrid vertical directional coupler consisting of a LRSPP waveguides and a dielectric waveguide is investigated and fabricated. In the proposed coupler the dielectric waveguide and LRSPP waveguide are vertically configured for dense integration and strong coupling. The characteristics of the even and odd super-modes of the coupler are also analyzed to design the device. The fabricated device exhibits damped sinusoidal behavior along the coupling length due to propagation loss of the LRSPP waveguide. The maximum power transfer of 86% from the LRSPP waveguide to the dielectric waveguide is achieved at the coupling length of 600 μm. The measured characteristics of the device are in relatively good agreement with a theoretical analysis.     

Efficient coupler between chip-level and board-level optical waveguides

We propose an efficient optical coupler between a submicrometer-sized silicon waveguide on a silicon photonic chip and a multi-micrometer wide polymer waveguide on an optical printed circuit board for interchip optical networks. We show low coupling loss <0.4 dB with high lateral and angular tolerance to misalignment so that coupling can be done by automatic pick-and-place equipments with high throughput and low cost. The coupler has a wide optical bandwidth from 1470 to 1650 nm.     

Estimation of the performance of a 3-dB Y-junction optical coupler with a channel profile of proton-exchanged lithium niobate

A 3-dB optical coupler (power splitter) based on a Y-junction waveguide with a channel profile of proton-exchanged lithium niobate has been modeled. Finite difference beam propagation method has been used to investigate light wave propagation in axially varying waveguides. It is found that the structure splits the input power equally at the Y-junction with an efficiency of 99% and an average excess loss ?0.04 dB. The novelty of the coupling structure proposed is its capability to function as a wavelength-independent 3-dB coupler while maintaining very low-power imbalance for widespread optical communication wavelengths of 1.3 and 1.55 µm.     

BPM Simulation and Comparison of 1 × 2 Directional Waveguide Coupling and Y-Junction Coupling Silicon-on-Insulator Optical Couplers

For developing large area opto-electronic silicon-on-insulator (SOI) devices, the optical coupler is a basic key device. In this article, the authors design and simulate 1 2 2 directional waveguide coupling and Y-branch coupling optical couplers based on Unibond SOI rib waveguides. The beam propagation method (BPM) is used for light propagation analysis. The simulation results and comparisons of the two kinds of optical couplers are reported. The S-bend waveguide for attaching to the two kinds of SOI optical coupler is also analyzed by BPM. We find that the directional coupler has lower power loss, but the Y-junction coupler is more wavelength insensitive with the same device size and splitting angle. The fabrication tolerance analysis shows Y-junction coupler has better fabrication characteristics.     

Design for broadband high-efficiency grating couplers

In this Letter, we propose general optimization methods to design broadband high-efficiency grating couplers for planar waveguides. We attribute the coupling bandwidth to the mismatch of effective indices between the diffracted beam and the actual grating structure around the operation wavelength for fiber to waveguide excitation. The coupling bandwidth formula is deduced. A simple parameter-separate optimization procedure is proposed for general layered grating couplers for high coupling efficiency. Using our principle, we optimized a grating coupler for a horizontal slot waveguide operating at wavelength 1.55 μm for TM polarization. The grating coupler has 1 dB bandwidth of 60 nm and coupling efficiency of 65% with incident light from single-mode optical fiber (SMF) at 8°.     

Polymer-waveguide-based vertical coupler

A 2 × 2 polymer-waveguide-based vertical coupler was designed and fabricated. The relationships between the coupling efficiency and the key optical design parameters of vertical coupler (such as the crossing angle, gap thickness between two waveguide layers and the waveguide dimensions) were investigated by using beam propagation method. Based on these simulations, a fully polymer vertical coupler was demonstrated.     

Transient analysis of static and dynamic responses for a single ring-resonator-based WDM add/drop filter array

This paper has analyzed the static and dynamic characteristics of a single ring-resonator-based optical WDM add/drop filter. The analysis has shown that the coupling coefficient of the coupler between a feeding waveguide and ring waveguide greatly influences the dynamic characteristics of a ring filter. Another determining factor was one round trip time of beam in a ring waveguide. Also, coupling coefficient has had influence on static on-chip losses in both thru and add/drop operation in a ring-resonator filter array. Considering both static and dynamic characteristics, a suitable range of coupling coefficients exists. Also, sideband rejection ratio of single ring resonator based WDM filter was investigated. Our method can provide a guide for the design and realization of a single ring-resonator based WDM add/drop filter.     

4 × 4 Plastic Optical Fiber Star Coupler Incorporated with a Common Polymer Waveguide Optical Power Distribution Region

Abstract

Two types of 4 × 4 plastic optical fiber star couplers incorporated with a polymer waveguide as the optical power distributor are proposed, and their high performances are demonstrated. The characteristics of the proposed star coupler are investigated based on ray optics, and its power distribution performance is evaluated in terms of the flatness of the coupling ratio and the amount of the excess loss. Under the best conditions, the flatness of the coupling ratio and the excess loss of the fabricated device have been obtained as 2.0 dB and 2.5 dB, respectively.     

一种硅基SiO2波导耦合器的设计与分析

波导耦合器是组成光纤传感系统和光纤通信系统光收发组件及模块的重要元器件,是实现光收发模块一体化光电集成的基础。给出了一种用光纤陀螺系统的X型四端口波导耦合器的工作原理,采用有效折射率法和BPM(Beam propagation method)法建立了耦合器的数学模型,计算并分析了耦合器尺寸在尽可能小的情况下和在满足单模传输的条件下耦合器的耦合系数、有效耦合长度、分光比以及回波损耗等参数之间的关系,并对其关键技术进行了系统的研究。仿真结果表明,所设计的波导耦合器在低损耗情况下分光比可达到50%∶50%,耦合器全长为33.5mm,输入输出波导间距为410μm,芯层截面积为6μm×6μm。     

Vertical coupling characteristics between hybrid plasmonic slot waveguide and Si waveguide

For development of complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible integrated optical circuits, vertical directional coupling between a hybrid plasmonic slot waveguide and a Si waveguide is theoretically investigated in detail. To determine the vertical separation gap and efficient coupling length, we investigate the characteristics of the even and odd supermodes at a wavelength of 1.55 μm. The vertical coupler transfers 90% of the power carried by the Si waveguide to the hybrid plasmonic slot waveguide after normalizing to reference waveguides when the gap is 60 nm and the coupling length is 2.6 μm. Because of the lossy hybrid guided mode in the plasmonic waveguide, the transmitted power exhibits damped sinusoidal behavior depending on the overlapping length. The proposed vertical coupler shows more efficient light coupling between a dielectric and plasmonic waveguide in comparison to the other types of hybrid coupler, and can be exploited further for on-chip integrated opto-electronic circuits.     

棱镜-漏波导耦合器的理论分析

根据多光束干涉原理,理论上分析了棱镜-漏波导耦合器,且与棱镜-波导耦合器作了比较,给出正确使用这两种耦合器的判据.分析结果表明,在强耦合条件下,棱镜-漏波导耦合器可用于薄膜参数测量和光波导输入-输出耦合;对于弱耦合,本文的结果与Tien和Ulrich的理论一致.     

基于光子集成芯片的可穿戴光纤光栅解调研究

为了实现光纤光栅传感器在可穿戴系统中的应用,提出了一种基于硅基光子集成芯片的可穿戴光纤光栅传感解调系统。基于比利时iSiPP50G工艺的光子集成芯片由4×1长波长VCSEL阵列、1×8阵列波导光栅、2×2 MMI耦合器、4×1光纤光栅耦合器阵列、Ge-on-Si波导光电探测器、直波导和弯曲波导等组成。在完成对VCSEL光源金线键合和光子集成芯片光纤耦合封装的基础上,设计了手环式解调电路,对人体温度和心音信号进行了实时测量。实验结果表明:解调系统的动态波长检测范围为1 540 nm～1 560 nm,波长分辨率为0.08 pm,解调精度为5 pm,温度监测范围为35℃～42℃,误差为±0.1℃;可检测50 Hz～100 Hz频率范围内的心音信号,可识别出第一心音和第二心音,并计算出心动周期、心率、第一心音时限、第二心音时限和心力等特征参数。     

Nanoplasmonic directional couplers and Mach–Zehnder interferometers

We present a novel design and analysis of two nano-scale plasmonic devices: a directional coupler and a Mach–Zehnder interferometer. The designs of the two devices are based on our recent work on the air-gap coupler that resulted in high coupling efficiency between a dielectric waveguide and a plasmonic waveguide. The two devices are embedded between two dielectric waveguides and operate at optical telecom wavelengths. The overall efficiency was 37% for a 2×2 directional coupler switch and above 50% for the proposed designs for a Mach–Zehnder Interferometer. The efficiency in the proposed devices can be increased using broader plasmonic waveguides.     

High efficiency,small size,and large bandwidth vertical interlayer waveguide coupler

Since the advent of three-dimensional photonic integrated circuits,the realization of efficient and compact optical interconnection between layers has become an important development direction.A vertical interlayer coupler between two silicon layers is presented in this paper.The coupling principle of the directional coupler is analyzed,and the traditional method of using a pair of vertically overlapping inverse taper structures is improved.For the coupling of two rectangular waveguide layers,a pair of nonlinear tapers with offset along the transmission direction is demonstrated.For the coupling of two ridge waveguide layers,a nonlinear taper in each layer is used to achieve high coupling efficiency.The simulation results show that the coupling efficiency of the two structures can reach more than 90%in a wavelength range from 1500 nm to 1650 nm.Moreover,the crosstalk is reduced to less than-50 d B by using multimode waveguides at intersections.The vertical interlayer coupler with a nonlinear taper is expected to realize the miniaturization and dense integration of photonic integrated chips.     

单模光纤窄带波分复用器的研究

由组合波导理论出发，分析了超长耦合器合区光纤间的功率耦合特性以及器件的偏振特性，并提出了研制二段窄波分单模光纤波发复用器的新方法，在研制常规耦合器的工艺基础上，先后研制成功１３１０ｎｍ或１５５０ｎｍ单窗口窄带波分复用器及１３１０ｎｍ或１５５０ｎｍ双窗口等三种复用间隔约１４ｎｍ的窄带波分复用器，其波长隔离度大于２０ｄＢ，具有２～３ｎｍ的带宽，偏振灵敏度小于０．１ｄＢ，附加损耗小于０．５ｄＢ，这些参数     

High-performance unidirectional electrooptic modulator based on polymeric highly multi-mode waveguides

A unidirectional electrooptic modulator based on an asymmetrical highly multi-mode waveguide coupler is proposed. Firstly, the energy distributions of all the modes within two highly multi-mode waveguides are analyzed with eigenstate theory. Then, to achieve high switching performance in a guided-wave coupler, a dumping wall is placed on the larger waveguide of an asymmetric pair of waveguides, so that the larger waveguide has a dumping effect. This dumping effect makes the asymmetric highly multi-mode waveguide coupler possess a highly efficient unidirectional coupling process. Due to the large cross-section of the waveguide, a new modulation electrode structure is built. Based on this dumping effect, the unidirectional coupling process is theoretically modeled. Furthermore, in both scenarios, i.e., the unmodulated state and the electrooptically modulated state, the unidirectional coupling efficiencies are studied. As a result, not only can a high unidirectional coupling efficiency of 100% be achieved, but a high electrooptic modulation depth more than 90% can also be implemented in theory, and a high thermooptic modulation depth more than 90% under a low modulation voltage of 30 volts is also experimentally achieved. This device can be used for multi-mode optical interconnection systems such as data communication and fiber sensor networks.