A Design Procedure for High-Performance, Rib-Waveguide-Based Multimode Interference Couplers in Silicon-on-Insulator

Author

Halir, Robert ; Molina-Fernández, I. ; Ortega-Moñux, A. ; Wangüemert-Pérez, J.G. ; Xu, Dan-Xia ; Cheben, Pavel ; Janz, Siegfried

Author_Institution

Dept. de Ing. de Comuniciones, Univ. de Malaga, Malaga

Volume

26

Issue

16

fYear

2008

Firstpage

2928

Lastpage

2936

Abstract

Single mode silicon-on-insulator rib waveguides offer a weak lateral confinement, which makes it difficult to design high-performance multimode interference couplers (MMIs) based on these waveguides. Here, a complete design procedure for single etch step MMIs with tapered rib access waveguides is presented, which yields low excess loss (0.1 dB) and good imbalance (0.02 dB). Furthermore, polarization dependence is low, and high fabrication tolerances are achieved, especially with respect to etch depth.

Keywords

etching; integrated optoelectronics; light interference; light polarisation; optical couplers; optical design techniques; optical fabrication; optical planar waveguides; rib waveguides; silicon-on-insulator; Si-SiO₂; etch depth; high fabrication tolerance; photonic lightwave circuits; polarization dependence; rib-waveguide-based multimode interference couplers; single mode silicon-on-insulator rib waveguides; tapered rib access waveguides; Algorithm design and analysis; Couplers; Etching; Interference; Optical device fabrication; Optical losses; Optical waveguides; Programmable control; Silicon on insulator technology; Waveguide transitions; Design; multimode interference (MMI); rib waveguide; silicon-on-insulator;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JLT.2007.914511

Filename

4660234