A study of wet oxidized Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/As for integrated optics

Author

Bek, A. ; Aydinli, A. ; Champlain, J.G. ; Naone, R. ; Dagli, N.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., California Univ., Santa Barbara, CA, USA

Volume

11

Issue

4

fYear

1999

fDate

4/1/1999 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

436

Lastpage

438

Abstract

An investigation of wet oxidized Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/As layers in integrated optical applications is reported. Refractive index and thickness shrinkage of wet oxidized Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/As layers are measured using spectroscopic ellipsometry. A Cauchy fit to the refractive index is found in the wavelength range between 0.3 and 1.6 μm. The refractive index at 1.55 μm is found to be 1.66/spl plusmn/0.01 with little dispersion around 1.55 μm. Very low loss single-mode waveguides with metal electrodes showing very low polarization dependence of loss coefficient are fabricated using wet oxidized Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/As layers as upper cladding. Optical polarization splitters are also designed and fabricated from the same type of waveguides taking advantage of increased birefringence. Designs utilizing wet oxidized Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/As are compared with conventional designs using only compound semiconductor heterostructures.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; birefringence; ellipsometry; gallium arsenide; integrated optics; optical beam splitters; optical losses; optical waveguides; oxidation; refractive index; 0.3 to 1.6 mum; 1.55 mum; Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/As layers; AlGaAs; Cauchy fit; birefringence; compound semiconductor heterostructures; integrated optical applications; integrated optics; metal electrodes; optical polarization splitters; refractive index; spectroscopic ellipsometry; thickness shrinkage; very low loss single-mode waveguides; very low polarization dependence; wet oxidized Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/As; Integrated optics; Optical losses; Optical polarization; Optical refraction; Optical variables control; Optical waveguides; Refractive index; Spectroscopy; Thickness measurement; Wavelength measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/68.752540

Filename

752540