A subwavelength structured multimode interference coupler for the 3-4 micrometers mid-infrared band

From National Research Council Canada

DOI	Resolve DOI: https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2179454
Author	Search for: Sánchez-Postigo, Alejandro; Search for: Wangüemert-Pérez, Juan Gonzalo; Search for: Halir, Robert; Search for: Ortega-Moñux, Alejandro; Search for: Alonso-Ramos, Carlos A.; Search for: Molina-Fernández, Íñigo; Search for: Soler Penadés, Jordi; Search for: Nedeljkovic, Milos; Search for: Mashanovich, Goran Z.; Search for: Cheben, Pavel¹ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4232-9130
Name affiliation	National Research Council of Canada. Information and Communication Technologies
Format	Text, Article
Proceedings title	Integrated Optics: Physics and Simulations II
Series title	Proceedings of SPIE; no. 9516
Conference	SPIE Optics + Optoelectronics, April 13-15, 2015, Prague, Czech Republic
ISSN	0277-786X 1996-756X
ISBN	9781628416374
Article number	95160L
Subject	bandwidth; carbon dioxide; flexible electronics; infrared devices; integrated optics; molecules; photonics; refractive index; waveguide couplers; basic building block; low-cost measurements; MIR; MMI; multimode interference couplers; operational bandwidth; SWG; ultra-broadband; coupled circuits
Abstract	The mid-infrared is attracting increasing attention since many molecules, including potentially hazardous gases such as methane and carbon dioxide, exhibit very specific absorption spectra in this wavelength region. Integrated silicon photonics circuits are envisioned to enable compact and low-cost measurement solutions for these molecules. Multimode interference couplers (MMIs) are basic building blocks for photonic circuits and a broad operational bandwidth is key if flexible operation is to be achieved, e.g. to detect different gases. Here we overcome the bandwidth limitations found in classical MMIs by segmenting the multimode region at a sub-wavelength pitch to engineer its refractive index and dispersion. We achieve less than 0:5 dB imbalance and excess loss in the complete 3 - 4 μm wavelength range. The sub-wavelength MMI not only exhibits nearly threefold improvement in bandwidth, but is also about three times shorter than the conventional device.
Publication date	2015-05-01
Publisher	SPIE
Language	English
Peer reviewed	Yes
NPARC number	21276970
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Record identifier	58eaa84d-4ea4-4d6a-82b2-fe834fe3bd89
Record created	2015-11-10
Record modified	2020-04-22

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