Design of a compact photonic-crystal-based polarizing beam splitter

Author

Tao Liu ; Zakharian, A.R. ; Fallahi, M. ; Moloney, J.V. ; Mansuripur, M.

Author_Institution

Opt. Sci. Center, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

Volume

17

Issue

7

fYear

2005

fDate

7/1/2005 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1435

Lastpage

1437

Abstract

A compact polarizing beam splitter based on a photonic crystal (PC) directional coupler with a triangular lattice of air holes is designed and simulated. In the employed PC structure, transverse-electric (TE) light is confined with the photonic bandgap effect, while transverse-magnetic (TM) light is guided through an index-like effect. Due to the different guiding mechanisms, TM and TE light have strikingly different beat lengths, which is utilized to separate the two polarizations in a directional coupler no longer than 24.2 μm. The two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method of computation is used to evaluate the device performance. The extinction ratios are found to be around 20 dB for both TE and TM polarized light.

Keywords

finite difference time-domain analysis; integrated optics; light polarisation; optical beam splitters; optical design techniques; optical directional couplers; photonic band gap; photonic crystals; TE polarized light; TM polarized light; air holes; beam splitter design; compact beam splitter; directional coupler; extinction ratios; index-like effect; photonic bandgap effect; photonic crystal; polarizing beam splitter; transverse-electric light; transverse-magnetic light; triangular lattice; two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method; Directional couplers; Lattices; Optical devices; Optical interferometry; Optical polarization; Optical propagation; Optical waveguides; Photonic band gap; Photonic crystals; Tellurium; Optical waveguides; photonic crystals (PCs); polarizing beam splitters (PBSs);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2005.848278

Filename

1453635