Comparison of AWGs and Echelle Gratings for Wavelength Division Multiplexing on Silicon-on-Insulator

Author

Pathak, Sant ; Dumon, P. ; Van Thourhout, Dries ; Bogaerts, W.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Inf. Technol., IMEC, Ghent Univ., Ghent, Belgium

Volume

6

Issue

5

fYear

2014

fDate

Oct. 2014

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

9

Abstract

We compare the performance (insertion loss and crosstalk) of silicon-based arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs) and echelle gratings for different channel spacings. For high-resolution de/multiplexer (DWDM) applications, AWGs are the better choice, whereas echelle gratings perform well for low-resolution de/multiplexer (CWDM) applications. Alternatively, for low-resolution de/multiplexer applications, the conventional box-shaped silicon AWG can be modified by an S-shaped AWG. We report crosstalk as low as -27 dB for regular AWGs, whereas in the S-shaped AWGs, the crosstalk is better than -19 dB, with an insertion loss below -2 dB. The crosstalk of the echelle gratings varies between -19 and -23 dB, with insertion loss below -2 dB.

Keywords

arrayed waveguide gratings; demultiplexing; diffraction gratings; optical crosstalk; optical losses; silicon-on-insulator; wavelength division multiplexing; S-shaped AWG; Si; arrayed waveguide gratings; channel spacings; crosstalk; echelle gratings; high-resolution de/multiplexer applications; insertion loss; low-resolution de/multiplexer applications; silicon-on-insulator; wavelength division multiplexing; Arrayed waveguide gratings; Arrays; Channel spacing; Crosstalk; Delays; Gratings; AWG;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Journal, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1943-0655

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JPHOT.2014.2361658

Filename

6916984