Tapered polymer single-mode waveguides for mode transformation

Author

Fan, Regis S. ; Hooker, R. Brian

Author_Institution

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

Volume

17

Issue

3

fYear

1999

fDate

3/1/1999 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

466

Lastpage

474

Abstract

This paper presents a tapered polymer waveguide structure for coupling light between optical waveguides with differing geometries. Optical fibers, lasers, and other photonic integrated circuit components can be coupled with tapered waveguides. The polymer waveguide performs a mode transformation between different mode shapes and sizes. For example, the mode transformation can be from an elliptical laser diode mode to that of a circular optical fiber mode. The input and output of a tapered waveguide structure are analyzed, for the case of laser to fiber coupling, in order to determine the effect of misalignments on the coupling efficiency. Adiabaticity in waveguide propagation is discussed. The fabrication of our polymer waveguides is also described

Keywords

integrated optics; integrated optoelectronics; laser modes; optical directional couplers; optical fabrication; optical fibre couplers; optical polymers; semiconductor lasers; circular optical fiber mode; coupling efficiency misalignments; coupling light; elliptical laser diode mode; geometries; lasers; mode shapes; mode transformation; optical couplers; optical fibers; optical fibre couplers; optical waveguides; photonic integrated circuit components; polymer waveguide fabrication; tapered polymer single-mode waveguides; tapered waveguide structure; waveguide propagation; Coupling circuits; Fiber lasers; Geometrical optics; Laser modes; Optical coupling; Optical fibers; Optical polymers; Optical waveguides; Photonic integrated circuits; Waveguide lasers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/50.749387

Filename

749387