Title :
Experimental Demonstration of Birefringence Compensation Using Angled Star Couplers in Silica-Based Arrayed Waveguide Grating
Author :
Xia, Xiang ; Zou, Jun ; Lang, Tingting ; He, Jian-Jun
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Opt. Eng., Zhejiang Univ., Hangzhou, China
Abstract :
A birefringence compensation technique based on angled star couplers in arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) is experimentally investigated in silica-on-silicon waveguide with B-Ge codoped upper cladding. A 16-channel AWG with 100-GHz channel spacing is designed and fabricated. The star couplers are designed according to Rowland circle construction with an oblique incident/diffraction angle. Five different polarization compensation parameters corresponding to different incident/diffraction angles are employed to investigate the stress-induced birefringence. The experimental results confirm that the polarization-dependent wavelength shift (PDλ) can be tuned by varying the incident/diffraction angle at the star couplers, and a birefringence-free AWG can be achieved without any additional fabrication process.
Keywords :
arrayed waveguide gratings; boron; channel spacing; claddings; compensation; germanium; mechanical birefringence; optical communication equipment; optical couplers; optical design techniques; optical fabrication; silicon; silicon compounds; AWG; B-Ge codoped upper cladding; Rowland circle construction; SiO2:B,Ge-Si; angled star couplers; birefringence compensation; channel spacing; diffraction angle; frequency 100 GHz; incident angle; polarization compensation; polarization-dependent wavelength shift; silica-based arrayed waveguide grating; silica-on-silicon waveguide; stress-induced birefringence; Arrayed waveguide gratings; Couplers; Diffraction; Optical device fabrication; Silicon compounds; Slabs; Arrayed waveguide grating (AWG); birefringence; planar waveguide;
Journal_Title :
Photonics Journal, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/JPHOT.2012.2229974
