Fabrication of buried channel waveguides in fused silica usingfocused MeV proton beam irradiation

Low-loss channel waveguides have been fabricated in fused silica using a beam of MeV protons focused down to a spot size of several microns. By using a combination of beam and sample scanning, single- and multimode graded index waveguides with lateral dimensions down to approximately 5 μm×5 μm have been fabricated using ion doses in the range (3×10¹⁴)-(6×10¹⁶) ions/cm ². Typical beam currents in the range 100 pA-10 nA were used. Optical mode profiles have been measured at 670 nm and propagation losses of the order of 3 dB/cm measured in unannealed samples. Annealing the substrate for 1 h at 500°C reduced these losses to below 0.5 dB/cm     

Laminated polarizers exhibiting high performance over a wide rangeof wavelength

A laminated polarizer exhibiting high performance over a wide range of wavelengths has been fabricated for the first time. The polarizer consists of alternate layers of laminated silica film and metal-included semiconductor ultra-thin film as the transparent and absorptive layers, respectively. Extinction ratios of greater than 50 dB with insertion losses of less than 0.4 dB have been obtained over the wavelength range of 0.8-1.55 μm. At the wavelength 0.98 μm where previously no viable laminated polarizer had been available, the extinction ratio is as high as greater than 60 dB and the insertion loss less than 0.3 dB     

Optical N×N demultiplexer with continuous wavelength tuningby thin film heater

A continuous wavelength tuning of 2.1 nm for a waveguide grating array demultiplexer by means of a thin film heater is demonstrated. Low transmission losses of 6 dB and a crosstalk suppression of >20 dB are maintained over the entire tuning range     

Planar lightwave circuit eight-channel CWDM multiplexer with <3.9-dB insertion loss

This paper describes the demonstration of an improved eight-channel coarse wavelength-division multiplexer. The fully packaged channel losses range from 2.3 to 3.9 dB, the 1-dB bandwidth is 16.3 nm, and the crosstalk is <-28dB. This silica-waveguide device could have very low cost.     

Analysis of the ${rm TE}$ -Pass or ${rm TM}$-Pass Metal-Clad Polarizer With a Resonant Buffer Layer

A metal-clad optical polarizer with a resonant buffer layer has been investigated by the finite-element method in this paper. Important waveguide design parameters, such as the refractive index, thickness, interaction length, fabrication tolerance, and band-stop characteristics, have been analyzed in detail. Mode coupling within the polarizer and the losses due to coupling between the polarizer and the input and output waveguides are considered using the normal mode analysis. The loss behaviors of and modes are explained and the roles of the resonant buffer layer are interpreted. By using ultralow index layers, resonance, as well as its phase-matching conditions and excellent performance, has also been presented and discussed for this structure for the first time. Simulations show that high performance can be achieved in a wide range of the cladding thicknesses (ges 2 mum) and interaction length for both TE-pass and TM-pass polarizers. With optimized parameters under 3-mm length, it is possible to obtain a broadband TE-pass polarizer with an extinction ratio of more than 40 dB and insertion loss below 0.2 dB over 200 nm, and a TM-pass polarizer with an extinction ratio of more than 30 dB and insertion loss below 0.4 dB over 28 nm.     

Design and fabrication of low-loss polymer waveguide components for on-chip optical interconnection

This paper reports the fabrication and characterization of straight and curved polyimide waveguides for on-chip optical signal distribution in GaAs-based optoelectronic integrated circuits. Polyimide ridge waveguides with propagation losses (at 830 nm) as low as 0.6 dB/cm have been fabricated. S-bends and splitters with low curvature losses and good splitting ratios have also been successfully fabricated and tested. The effects of the material properties and radius of curvature on the optical losses are presented, and the advantages of this polymer technology are discussed.     

Preparation of graded-index optical glass fibres in the alkali germanosilicate system

Multicomponent glass fibres with a graded refractive index have been made in the alkali germanosilicate system using the double-crucible method. The index profile is based on Na+ ? K+ ion exchange. Bulk-glass absorption losses of ?10 dB/km at 752 nm have been measured. The present minimum level of fibre attenuation is 35 dB/km.     

Low-loss phased-array based 4-channel wavelength demultiplexerintegrated with photodetectors

A 4-channel phased-array wavelength division demultiplexer with 1.8 nm channel spacing at 1.54 μm has been monolithically integrated with photodetectors in InP/InGaAsP. On chip losses are 3.5 to 4.5 dB. These are the lowest losses reported so far for demultiplexers monolithically integrated with photodetectors. Nearest neighbor crosstalk ranges from -12 to -21 dB     

Tunable polymer optical add/drop filter for multiwavelength networks

We present a polymer optical add/drop filter with a channel cross-talk of -18.5 dB, a free spectral range of 12.8 nm and a channel spacing of 400 GHz (4 channels) as well as a tunable optical filter with a free spectral range of 50 nm. Both filter designs are based on a synthesis which provides the minimum number of filter stages for a given channel crosstalk and number of channels. Wavelength tunability over the entire free-spectral range (FSR) is demonstrated with applied heating powers of 500 mW. For the narrow bandwidth filter we used a fluorinated high temperature stable polymer as the waveguiding material, which has proven to exhibit losses as low as 0.25 dB/cm at a wavelength of 1.55 /spl mu/m.     

Characteristics of Er-doped Al2O3 thin filmsdeposited by reactive co-sputtering

Er-doped Al₂O₃ thin films have been deposited by reactive co-sputtering onto thermally oxidized Si-wafers. The deposition process has been optimized with respect to the requirements originating from the application of these multilayer structures as integrated optical amplifiers for the third telecom window, i.e., the wavelength range 1.52-1.55 μm. The films obtained at a substrate temperature of only 400°C are amorphous and show a homogenous structure, without columns or grains. For slabguides, background losses smaller than 0.25 dB/cm have been obtained, even without any annealing. A relatively broad luminescence band, having an FWHM of ~55 nm around the 1.533-μm wavelength, has been measured. From gain versus pumping power curves, an upconversion coefficient lower then 20·10^-25 m³/s has been derived, being half of the values reported up to now in the literature. Simulations based on experimentally determined material parameters and assuming a channel attenuation of 0.5 dB/cm indicate, for 0.24 at.% Er channel devices with an optimal channel length of 7.7 cm, an amplification of 8 dB at 1.533 μm for a pump wavelength of 1.48 μm, and a pump power of only 8.7 mW     

Cadmium sulphide evaporated-layer transducers

Techniques have been developed for the vacuum deposition of cadmium sulphide ultrasonic transducers for generating either longitudinal or linearly polarized shear waves over the frequency range from below 100 Mc to at least 1.8 Gc. These transducers are relatively quick and simple to make and are considerably more efficient and wider in bandwidth than those presently used in this frequency range. Conversion losses for one transducer as low as 6 dB have been obtained at 300 Mc rising to about 20 dB at 1.6 Gc. Discrimination against all unwanted modes of greater than 30 dB over a 30 percent bandwidth has been achieved.     

InGaAs-InP superlattice electroabsorption waveguide modulator

An electroabsorption waveguide modulator with an extinction ratio for TE-polarized light at 1550 nm of more than 20 dB for a voltage swing of less than 3 V, and low insertion losses has been realized, which exploits the Wannier-Stark effect in an InGaAs-InP short period superlattice, grown by chemical beam epitaxy. Even for a fixed voltage swing of 2.6 V, a good transmission contrast has been obtained in a wide wavelength range     

InAlGaAs bulk micromachined tunable Fabry–Pérot filter for dense WDM systems

In this work we report on micromechanically tunable Fabry–Pérot filter concepts for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems. The optical resonator is designed for a cavity length around 30 μm in order to increase the filter selectivity while relaxing the demands on the required mirror reflectance. The introduction of micromechanical actuators, utilizing electrothermal and electrostatic principles, allows wavelength tuning of the filter over a range of more than 40 nm in the 1.55 μm wavelength regime. The movable Bragg mirror, designed as suspended membrane and fabricated with an InP bulk-micromachining technology, consists of a molecular beam epitaxy-grown InAlGaAs quarter-wavelength multilayer stack. The influence of micromechanical actuation and the effect of intrinsic mechanical stress on the mirror deformation has been investigated systematically to optimize the optical filter performance. Filter losses induced by the light absorption within the epitaxial Bragg mirror have been minimized using a highly doped InGaAs/InAlAs composition. Furthermore, low-loss Fabry–Pérot filters have been fabricated using InAlGaAs/InAlAs Bragg mirrors. The measured full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) is 0.24 nm and a filter insertion loss of 2.8 dB has been observed. The FWHM is kept below 0.35 nm over an entire tuning range of 40 nm for an actuation power of 1.3 mW. The bulk-micromachining technology presented here is open for the future development of WDM components, e.g. tunable receivers or laser diodes.     

Reliable Low-Cost Fabrication of Low-Loss $hbox{Al}_{2}hbox{O} _{3}{:}hbox{Er}^{3+}$ Waveguides With 5.4-dB Optical Gain

A reliable and reproducible deposition process for the fabrication of Al₂O₃ waveguides with losses as low as 0.1 dB/cm has been developed. The thin films are grown at ~ 5 nm/min deposition rate and exhibit excellent thickness uniformity within 1% over 50times50 mm² area and no detectable OH^- incorporation. For applications of the Al₂O₃ films in compact, integrated optical devices, a high-quality channel waveguide fabrication process is utilized. Planar and channel propagation losses as low as 0.1 and 0.2 dB/cm, respectively, are demonstrated. For the development of active integrated optical functions, the implementation of rare-earth-ion doping is investigated by cosputtering of erbium during the Al₂O₃ layer growth. Dopant levels between 0.2-5times10²⁰ cm^-3 are studied. At Er³⁺ concentrations of interest for optical amplification, a lifetime of the ⁴I_13/2 level as long as 7 ms is measured. Gain measurements over 6.4-cm propagation length in a 700-nm-thick Al₂O₃:Er³⁺ channel waveguide result in net optical gain over a 41-nm-wide wavelength range between 1526-1567 nm with a maximum of 5.4 dB at 1533 nm.     

A 10-Gb/s Monolithically Integrated Filterless InGaAsP/InP Widely Tunable Wavelength Converter With Conversion Gain

In this paper, we present the details of a monolithically integrated filterless wavelength converter based on photocurrent-driven technology. The device consists of an integrated tunable laser transmitter and an optical receiver. The transmitter includes a sampled-grating distributed-Bragg-reflector laser, an electroabsorption modulator, and a semiconductor optical amplifier. The optical receiver employs two semiconductor optical amplifiers and a quantum-well p-i-n photodetector. The wavelength converter is characterized at 10 Gb/s over a variety of bias conditions at various input-power levels in various digital-system experiments. Bit-error-rate measurements at 10 Gb/s over an output tuning range of 32 nm between 1531 and 1563 nm show power penalties less than 1 dB. Similar experiments over an input wavelength range of 25 nm from 1535 to 1560 nm show a power penalty less than 2.5 dB. For a wavelength conversion from 1548 nm to a range of output wavelengths between 1531 and 1563 nm, the facet-to-facet gain ranges from 9 to 13 dB, neglecting fiber coupling losses.     

Silica-based integrated optic Mach-Zehnder multi/demultiplexerfamily with channel spacing of 0.01-250 nm

A Mach-Zehnder (MZ) interferometer design is presented for application to wavelength-division multiplexed/frequency division multiplexed (WDM/FDM) systems. A variety of integrated-optic devices with low loss and low crosstalk, using silica-based waveguides, are demonstrated. MZ interferometers operate as multi/demultiplexers or frequency-selection switches. The channel spacing is determined by the waveguide arm length difference, and a spacing range of 1 GHz to 36 THz, corresponding to a wavelength spacing of 0.008-250 nm, is achieved. The devices for the WDM region have low fiber-to-fiber loss of 0.5 dB, and the devices for the FDM region have higher losses of 2-5 dB. Crosstalk of less than -15 dB was obtained for all the devices. A 5-GHz-spaced 16-channel frequency selection switch and a 10-GHz-spaced eight-channel multi/demultiplexer were also fabricated with a total loss of 5 dB and total crosstalk of -10 dB or less     

Frequency-selective MEMS for miniaturized low-power communicationdevices

With Q's in the tens to hundreds of thousands, micromachined vibrating resonators are proposed as integrated circuit-compatible tanks for use in the low phase-noise oscillators and highly selective filters of communications subsystems. To date, LF oscillators have been fully integrated using merged CMOS/microstructure technologies, and bandpass filters consisting of spring-coupled micromechanical resonators have been demonstrated in a frequency range from HF to VHF. In particular, two-resonator micromechanical bandpass filters have been demonstrated with frequencies up to 35 MHz, percent bandwidths on the order of 0.2%, and insertion losses less than 2 dB. Higher order three-resonator filters with frequencies near 455 kHz have also been achieved, with equally impressive insertion losses for 0.09% bandwidths, and with more than 64 dB of passband rejection. Additionally, free-beam single-pole resonators have recently been realized with frequencies up to 92 MHz and Q's around 8000. Evidence suggests that the ultimate frequency range of this high-Q tank technology depends upon material limitations, as well as design constraints, in particular, to the degree of electromechanical coupling achievable in microscale resonators     

0.1 dB/cm waveguide losses in single-mode SOI rib waveguides

Waveguide losses as low as 0.1 dB/cm at a wavelength of /spl lambda/=1.3 /spl mu/m have been achieved in SOI rib waveguides fabricated by wet chemical etching. The single-mode waveguides have a large cross section yielding field mismatch losses to a standard single-mode fiber of only 0.17 dB/facet (both polarizations). Polarization independent fiber-chip-fiber insertion losses of 0.9 dB (best 0.5 dB) at a chip length of 60 mm have been measured.     

Optical fibres prepared by plasma-augmented vapour deposition

Optical fibres have been prepared using vapour deposition in inductively coupled plasmas. Both homogeneous and pseudoheterogeneous deposition of material has been promoted, with the heating effect derived from the plasma augmentation removing the need for subsidiary tube heating. Minimum fibre losses have been 4?5 dB/km at 850 nm.     

High-performance guided-wave multi/demultiplexer based on novel design using embedded gradient-index waveguides in glass

A guided-wave multi/demultiplexer which comprises low-loss gradient-index ion-exchange waveguides embedded in a glass substrate and optimised interference filters was successfully fabricated. Around ? 1dB insertion losses for demultiplexing and less than 2dB insertion losses for multiplexing with sufficient transmission bandwidth as wide as 66 nm were achieved.