Echelle grating demultiplexers with reduced return loss by using chirped diffraction order design

A design for echelle grating demultiplexers is presented to reduce the return loss. The input waveguide is placed on the minimal intensity position of the diffraction envelope. Then, by further chirping the diffraction order for each facet, we minimize the envelope intensity for other adjacent diffraction orders, which can contribute to a negligible return loss for a large spectral width. The present design is appropriate for multifrequency laser or multistage demultiplexer applications.