Optical bandwidth and fabrication tolerances of multimode interference couplers

Author

Besse, Pierre A. ; Bachmann, Maurus ; Melchior, H. ; Soldano, L.B. ; Smit, M.K.

Author_Institution

Inst. of Quantum Electronics, Eidgenossische Tech. Hochschule, Zurich, Switzerland

Volume

12

Issue

6

fYear

1994

fDate

6/1/1994 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1004

Lastpage

1009

Abstract

Analytical expressions are derived which relate the optical bandwidth and the fabrication tolerances of multimode interference (MMI) couplers to their most important design parameters. These expressions compare adequately with mode analysis simulations. For strong guided structures, the optical bandwidth is shown to he inversely proportional to the number of input and output ports N and to the length of the device. The fabrication tolerances are independent of N and proportional to the output channel separation D. Measurements on MMI couplers in InP/InGaAsP corroborate the theoretical predictions

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; gallium arsenide; gallium compounds; indium compounds; integrated optics; light interference; optical communication equipment; optical couplers; optical waveguides; optical workshop techniques; simulation; InP-InGaAsP; InP/InGaAsP; analytical expressions; design parameters; fabrication tolerances; input ports; length; mode analysis simulations; multimode interference couplers; optical bandwidth; output channel separation; output ports; strong guided structures; theoretical predictions; Bandwidth; Couplers; Integrated optics; Interference; Optical device fabrication; Optical devices; Optical receivers; Optical refraction; Optical variables control; Optical waveguides;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/50.296191

Filename

296191