Tapping light from waveguides by high-order mode excitation and demultiplexing

A novel high-performance optical tap with low wavelength-dependent loss(WDL), polarization-dependent loss (PDL), and excess loss is described. The tap is based on exciting a high-order mode by an abrupt change in the waveguide profile, and then tapping the optical power in the high-order mode by using a modal-demultiplexer. The tap can be designed to give a tapping ratio in the range of -30 to -10 dB over a wavelength range of 1510-1640 nm. In addition, it is shown that the tapping ratio is tolerant to process variations, repeatable and predictable, enabling the design to be implemented in a single process run, with no need for additional fine-tuning iterations, while achieving a high process yield. We show that measurements are in good agreement with simulated results. In the tap channel we measured 0.3 dB WDL and 0.2-dB PDL over the C- and L- bands, while the signal in the main channel was virtually uncontaminated relative to a plain single-mode reference waveguide.