This article is cited in 6 papers

Integrated optical waveguides

Analysis of light propagation for a crossing of thin silicon wires using vertical tunnelling coupling with a thick optical channel waveguide

A. V. Tsarev, E. A. Kolosovskii

Rzhanov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk

Abstract: Using silicon photonic wires in a silicon-on-insulator structure as an example, we examine the problem of crossings of thin, high-index-contrast channel waveguides. To ensure high optical wave transmission efficiency at as low a level of parasitic scattering as possible, we propose using a structure with vertical coupling between a thin tapered silicon waveguide and a thick polymer waveguide, separated by a thin buffer oxide layer. Numerical simulation is used to find conditions under which such a structure (3 × 90 mm in dimensions) ensures 98 % and 99 % transmission efficiency at ~1.55 mm in 35- and 26-nm spectral ranges, respectively, for direct propagation and 99.99 % transmission in the transverse direction. The optical element in question is proposed for use in optical microchips with multiple channel waveguide crossings.

Keywords: integrated optics, optical waveguide, method of lines, finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, beam propagation method (BPM), nanophotonics.

PACS: 42.82.Bq, 42.82.Ds, 42.82.Et

Received: 15.01.2013
Revised: 14.05.2013

 English version: Quantum Electronics, 2013, 43:8, 744–750

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