Polarization rotator based on silicon wire waveguides.

We describe a polarization rotator based on an off-axis double-core structure consisting of a silicon wire waveguide and a silicon-oxinitride waveguide. The rotator can be made by planar fabrication technology and do not require complex processes, such as three-dimensional structure formation. A rotator with 35-microm long provides the polarization rotation angle of 72 degrees and the polarization extinction ratio of 11 dB with the excess loss of about 1 dB. Our polarization rotator represents a significant step towards accomplishing an optical circuit with polarization diversity based on silicon wire waveguides.

[1]  L. Kimerling,et al.  Effect of size and roughness on light transmission in a Si/SiO2 waveguide: Experiments and model , 2000 .

[2]  T. Shoji,et al.  Microphotonics devices based on silicon microfabrication technology , 2005, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics.

[3]  M. Watts,et al.  Integrated mode-evolution-based polarization splitter. , 2005, Optics letters.

[4]  T. Shoji,et al.  All-optical efficient wavelength conversion using silicon photonic wire waveguide , 2006, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[5]  T. Tsuchizawa,et al.  Four-wave mixing in silicon wire waveguides. , 2005, Optics express.

[6]  Hiroshi Fukuda,et al.  Ultrasmall polarization splitter based on silicon wire waveguides. , 2006, Optics express.

[7]  E. G. Metaal,et al.  A short polarization splitter without metal overlays on InGaAsP-InP , 1997, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[8]  Koji Yamada,et al.  Silicon-wire-based ultrasmall lattice filters with wide free spectral ranges. , 2003, Optics letters.

[9]  Jun-ichi Takahashi,et al.  Microphotonics Devices Based on Silicon Wire Waveguiding System (INVITED) , 2004 .

[10]  M. Watts,et al.  Integrated mode-evolution-based polarization rotators. , 2005, Optics letters.

[11]  N. Dagli,et al.  A compact silicon-on-insulator polarization splitter , 2005, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[12]  Minghao Qi,et al.  Towards integrated polarization diversity: design, fabrication, and characterization of integrated polarization splitters and rotators , 2005, OFC/NFOEC Technical Digest. Optical Fiber Communication Conference, 2005..

[13]  Henry I. Smith,et al.  Polarization-transparent microphotonic devices in the strong confinement limit , 2007 .