Compact polarization-insensitive arrayed waveguide grating based on SOI material

A compact polarization-insensitive 8×8 arrayed waveguide grating with 100GHz channel spacing at 1.55µm is presented on the material of silicon on insulator (SOI). Increasing the epitaxial layer thickness can reduce the birefringence of the waveguide, but the wvaeguide's bend radius also increases at the same time. We choose the SOI wafer with 3.0μm epitaxial layer to reduce the device's size and designed the appropriate structure of rib waveguides to eliminate the polarization dependant wavelength shift. Compared to the other methods of eliminating the polarization dependant wavelength shift, the method is convenient and easy to control the polarization without additional etching process. The index differences between TE0 and TM0 of straight and bend waveguides are 1.4×10-5 and 3.9×10-5, respectively. The results showed that the polarization dependant wavelength shift is 0.1nm, and the device size is 1.5×1.0 cm2.

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