Low Loss MMI Couplers for High Performance MZI Modulators

Optical splitters and combiners which can provide precise splitting with low loss, high thermal stability, large optical bandwidth, high compactness, and insensitivity to fabrication tolerances are essential components for high performance Mach-Zehnder Interferometers (MZI)-based optical modulators....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE photonics technology letters 2010-10, Vol.22 (20), p.1485-1487
Main Authors: Thomson, D J, Hu, Y, Reed, G T, Fedeli, Jean-Marc
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Conferences
Couplers
Extinction ratio
Fiber optics
Low loss
Mach-Zehnder interferometers
Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZI)
Modulators
multimode interference (MMI)
Noise levels
Optical device fabrication
Optical devices
Optical fibers
Optical interferometry
Optical losses
Optical modulation
optical modulator
Optical sensors
Optical waveguides
Performance loss
silicon photonics
taper
Tolerances
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Summary:Optical splitters and combiners which can provide precise splitting with low loss, high thermal stability, large optical bandwidth, high compactness, and insensitivity to fabrication tolerances are essential components for high performance Mach-Zehnder Interferometers (MZI)-based optical modulators. In this letter, we theoretically and experimentally investigate the multimode interference (MMI) based structure and the reduction in optical loss achievable through the use of linear tapers at the input and output ports. Our data shows that losses can be reduced to below 1 dB/MMI without affecting the static extinction when employed in MZIs.
ISSN:1041-1135
1941-0174
DOI:10.1109/LPT.2010.2063018