Design of a compact three-dimensional multimode interference phased array structures (3-D MMI PHASAR) for DWDM applications

In this paper, we present a three-dimensional multimode interference phased array structures (3-D MMI PHASAR) (de)multiplexer as a multilevel extension to the planar two-dimensional (2-D) MMI PHASAR. This device is compatible with the planar integrated optics technology. This opens the route for new high-density multilevel optical circuits. In this paper, we discuss 3-D integrated optics and give a detailed description of this new device. The demultiplexing of 65 dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) channels with a channel spacing of 0.2 nm using the proposed structure is considered. The comparison with a 2-D planar PHASAR shows a net improvement in the structure compactness and performance.