The Design of Single Mode Large Cross-section Glass-based Waveguides for Photonic Integrated Circuits

Abstract

This paper presents our recent simulation results and novel designs of single mode large cross-section glass-based waveguides for photonic integrated circuits (PICs). Simulations were performed using an in-house Finite Difference (FD) based mode solver and the FD Beam Propagation Method (FD-BPM). Our simulation results show that this innovative technology could provide a simplified means to couple optical energy efficiently between optical components in a single chip. This would provide the base for the future large-scale integration of optical components in PICs. The novel idea of using single mode large cross-section glass-based waveguides as an optical integration platform is an evolutionary innovative solution for the monolithic integration of optical components, in which the glassbased structures act both as waveguides and as an optical bench for integration. This allows easy and efficient optical coupling between optical components and optical fibres, removing costly and tedious alignment problems and considerably reducing optical coupling losses in PICs. We expect that the glassbased waveguide PICs technology will enable the emergence of a new generation of compact, reliable, high speed, and multifunctional devices.

Realization of visible light integrated circuits for all-optical haar transform

“…Given that the thickness of the TriPleX waveguides is about several tens of nanometers, light coupling from a single mode optical fiber, placed on the v-groove, into the input waveguide of a circuit was the most difficult part of the test, hardly done by fine tuning the first and second positioners. Some methods can be can be realized to improve the light coupling issue, e.g., using of spot size converter (Roeloffzen et al 2018), micro-lens structures (Scarcella et al 2017;Marchetti et al 2019) and single mode large cross-section waveguides (Zhang et al 2006). The green light was coupled from the free space laser source to the SMF pigtail by the exact alignment of laser source, objective lens and free space to fiber adapter.…”