Low-loss bent connections for optical switches

Author

Heinbach, Matthias ; Schienle, Meinrad ; Schmid, Anton ; Acklin, Bruno ; Muller, Gustav

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electrophys., Tech. Univ. Munich, Germany

Volume

15

Issue

5

fYear

1997

fDate

5/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

833

Lastpage

837

Abstract

We present S-bent InP/InGaAsP rib waveguides used as connections for optical switches at λ=1.5 μm. Transitions between waveguides of different curvature and different lateral confinement are realized with adiabatic tapers. We investigated bends with radii from 200-1700 μm and rib widths 2.2, 3.2, and 4.2 μm. For rib width 3.2 μm we obtain almost for all radii extremely small quasi-polarization independent excess-losses below 0.3 dB. The waveguides are easy to fabricate and the tapered transitions are tolerant to technological variations. The performance offers the chance of low cost and simple monolithic integration of large optical switch matrices in InP/InGaAsP

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; gallium arsenide; indium compounds; integrated optics; optical couplers; optical losses; optical switches; rib waveguides; waveguide discontinuities; 0.3 dB; 1.5 mum; 2.2 to 4.2 mum; 200 to 1700 mum; InP; InP-InGaAsP; S-bent InP/InGaAsP rib waveguides; adiabatic tapers; integrated optical circuits; large optical switch matrices; low-loss bent connections; monolithic integration; optical switches; quasi-polarization independent excess-losses; rib width; tapered transitions; technological variation tolerance; waveguide curvature; waveguide lateral confinement; waveguide transitions; Costs; Indium phosphide; Integrated optics; Mirrors; Optical devices; Optical losses; Optical polarization; Optical switches; Optical waveguides; Waveguide transitions;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/50.580824

Filename

580824