Single-etched fiber-chip coupler with a metal mirror on a 220-nm silicon-on-insulator platform for perfectly vertical coupling

Vertical couplers play a pivotal role as essential components supporting interconnections between fibers and photonic integrated circuits (PICs). In this study, we propose and demonstrate a high-performance perfectly vertical coupler based on a three-stage inverse design method, realized through a s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Optics letters 2024-06, Vol.49 (11), p.2974
Main Authors: Wang, Lihang, Qiu, Jifang, Dong, Zhenli, Chen, Yuchen, Wu, Lan, Guo, Hongxiang, Wu, Jian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Couplers
Coupling
Fiber placement
Integrated circuits
Inverse design
Metal mirrors
Silicon
SOI (semiconductors)
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Summary:Vertical couplers play a pivotal role as essential components supporting interconnections between fibers and photonic integrated circuits (PICs). In this study, we propose and demonstrate a high-performance perfectly vertical coupler based on a three-stage inverse design method, realized through a single full etching process on a 220-nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform with a backside metal mirror. Under surface-normal fiber placement, experimental results indicate a remarkable 3-dB bandwidth of 99 nm with a peak coupling efficiency of -1.44 dB at the wavelength of 1549 nm. This achievement represents the best record to date, to the best of our knowledge, for a perfectly vertical coupler fabricated under similar process conditions.
ISSN:0146-9592
1539-4794
1539-4794
DOI:10.1364/OL.524717