Scattering induced crosstalk in active directional couplers

Author

Lin, Sihan ; Feng, Wei ; Powelson, Judith C. ; Feuerstein, Robert J. ; Bintz, Louis James ; Tomic, Darja ; Mickelson, Alan Rolf

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Colorado Univ., Boulder, CO, USA

Volume

14

Issue

9

fYear

1996

fDate

9/1/1996 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2012

Lastpage

2025

Abstract

Scattering from defects in an integrated optical device causes phase randomization and depolarization. Scattered light can be recaptured by the waveguides of the device and perturbs modal fields. This leads to crosstalk in directional coupler switches. A defect-scattering-induced crosstalk model is developed and crosstalk in one-, two-, and three-electrode directional couplers is investigated with the model. The number of independent electrode voltages needed to tune out crosstalk is studied. Simulations show that scattering-induced crosstalk can be tuned out completely in active directional couplers with two independent electrode voltages. When modal differential loss and unequal taper coupling are taken into account, two independent electrode voltages are insufficient to tune out the crosstalk, whereas three independent electrode voltages are sufficient. This agrees with the conclusion from previous three-electrode directional coupler experiments

Keywords

electro-optical switches; electrodes; light polarisation; light scattering; optical communication equipment; optical couplers; optical crosstalk; optical directional couplers; optical losses; optical waveguide theory; switching networks; active directional couplers; defects; depolarization; directional coupler switch optical crosstalk; independent electrode voltages; integrated optical device; modal differential loss; modal fields perturbation; phase randomization; scattering induced crosstalk; scattering-induced crosstalk; three-electrode directional coupler experiments; unequal taper coupling; waveguide scattered light recapture; Crosstalk; Directional couplers; Electrodes; Electrooptical waveguides; Millimeter wave technology; Optical losses; Optical scattering; Optical waveguides; Propagation losses; Switches;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/50.536969

Filename

536969