Wavelength-selective coupling between vertically integrated thin-film waveguides via supermode by a pair of grating couplers

Grating coupling between vertically integrated waveguides via supermode was discussed and demonstrated. Two thin-film waveguides with grating couplers were stacked on a substrate. A guided wave in one waveguide is converted by a grating coupler to a supermode propagating contradirectionally, and then converted by another grating coupler to a guided wave in the other waveguide. The coupling shows high wavelength selectivity, and the wavelength-division add/drop multiplexing function can be combined. A demonstrator was designed and fabricated. Theoretically predicted coupling efficiency was almost 100% with wavelength selectivity of 2 nm, while the experimentally obtained value was 40% in the efficiency and 1 nm in the selectivity.