PCF-based polarization splitters with simplified structures

Author

Zhang, Lin ; Yang, Changxi ; Yu, Changyuan ; Luo, Ting ; Willner, Alan E.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Volume

23

Issue

11

fYear

2005

Firstpage

3558

Lastpage

3565

Abstract

We propose novel polarization splitters based on photonic crystal fibers (PCFs), in which the cores of the splitters are nearly nonbirefringent. Different from conventional fiber-based polarization splitters, the birefringence in the new splitters results mainly from narrow silica regions physically connecting the two cores. This means that polarization splitting can be achieved without employing highly birefringent cores, which provides a possibility to greatly simplify the structures of the PCF-based polarization splitters and make them more practical. A 5-mm-long splitter with an extinction ratio of 20 dB has been obtained. We also discuss how the silica regions influence coupling characteristics of the dual-core PCFs and present a design guidance for the polarization splitters based on polarization-dependent coupling.

Keywords

birefringence; optical beam splitters; optical fibre polarisation; photonic crystals; PCF; extinction ratio; nonbirefringent core; photonic crystal fibers; polarization splitters; Birefringence; Directional couplers; Extinction ratio; Instruments; Joining processes; Multicore processing; Optical fiber couplers; Optical fiber polarization; Photonic crystal fibers; Silicon compounds; Birefringence; couplers; holey fiber; optical fibers; photonic crystal fiber (PCF); polarization splitter; polarization-dependent coupling;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JLT.2005.857779

Filename

1561385