| Abstract: | Mid‐infrared (mid‐IR) microphotonic devices including (i) straight/bent waveguides and (ii) Y‐junction beam splitters are developed on thin films of CMOS‐compatible sputter deposited aluminum nitride (AlN)‐on‐silicon. An optical loss of 0.83 dB/cm at λ = 2.5 µm is achieved. In addition, an efficient mid‐IR 50:50 beam splitter is demonstrated over 200 nm spectral bandwidth along with a <2% power difference between adjacent channels. With the inherent advantage of an ultra‐wide transparent window (ultraviolent to mid‐IR), our AlN mid‐IR platform can enable broadband optical networks on a chip. |
