Tunable notch filter using a thermooptic long-period grating

This paper proposes a tunable notch filter using a thermooptic long-period grating and investigates it theoretically. This notch filter is in the form of an integrated optical device and is based on a simple structure as compared with existing integrated optical notch filters. The thermooptic grating denotes a thermooptic index perturbation induced by periodic heaters. The attenuation of a resonance band in the transmission spectrum of the proposed notch filter can be controlled by adjusting the electric power applied to the periodic heaters. Employing the heat transfer theory and the coupled-mode theory, the proposed filter is designed and analyzed. The paper also presents analytic expressions for the temperature change due to a heater and the coupling coefficients due to the thermooptic grating. This filter may have potential as a compact dynamically controllable device like a tunable gain flattening filter.