Abstract
Disclosed is a compact on-chip polarization splitter-rotator based on a Bezier curve gradient waveguide. The Bezier curve gradient waveguide structure is a standard SOI-based wafer structure, comprising a substrate, of which the bottom layer is buried with oxide (SiO.sub.2), and the top is composed of silicon waveguides, including a common output waveguide and a specially-structured waveguide containing Bessel curve boundaries. The common waveguide structure is composed of a cuboid waveguide, and the specially-structured waveguide is composed of an input region, an output region, a width-gradient waveguide (Bezier curve gradient structure) and a coupling region, where a width of the gradient waveguide is determined by a third-order Bezier curve, and the coupling region is composed of two asymmetrical waveguide regions.
Claims
1. A compact on-chip polarization splitter-rotator based on a Bezier curve gradient waveguide, wherein the compact on-chip polarization splitter-rotator based on a Bezier curve gradient waveguide comprises a substrate, and a waveguide structure is disposed on the surface of the substrate; the waveguide structure comprises a common output waveguide and a specially-structured waveguide which are parallel to each other, and are partitioned by an air gap W.sub.gap as a medium; the common output waveguide is a cuboid in structure, and if the direction from input to output is denoted as a +Z direction, the specially-structured waveguide is composed of an input guide region, a Bezier curve gradient region, an asymmetrical directional coupling region, and an output guide region which are cascaded sequentially in the +Z direction; the common output waveguide corresponds to the asymmetrical directional coupling region and the output guide region in the +Z direction.
2. The compact on-chip polarization splitter-rotator based on a Bezier curve gradient waveguide according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is made of silicon dioxide.
3. The on-chip polarization splitter-rotator based on a Bezier curve gradient waveguide according to claim 1, wherein the input guide region, the Bezier curve gradient region, the asymmetrical directional coupling region and the output guide region are all made of silicon.
4. The on-chip polarization splitter-rotator based on a Bezier curve gradient waveguide according to claim 1, wherein the substrate has a thickness of 2 and the common output waveguide and the specially-structured waveguide each have a thickness of 220 nm.
5. The compact on-chip polarization splitter-rotator based on a Bezier curve gradient waveguide according to claim 1, wherein the Bezier curve gradient region is gradually widened in the +Z direction, and has an outer contour defined by a third-order Bezier curve.
6. The compact on-chip polarization splitter-rotator based on a Bezier curve gradient waveguide according to claim 5, wherein a length of the Bezier curve gradient region is denoted as L.sub.tp, poles of the third-order Bezier curve for determining the outer contour are located at a front end point, P.sub.2, P.sub.3 and a back end point of a waveguide in a region, respectively, wherein the point P.sub.2 has a same location as the back end point in the +X direction, and is located at ⅓ of L.sub.tp in the +Z direction, and the point P.sub.3 has a same location as the front end point in the +X direction, and is located at ⅔ of L.sub.tp in the +Z direction.
7. The compact on-chip polarization splitter-rotator based on a Bezier curve gradient waveguide according to claim 6, wherein a width of the output guide region is decreased linearly in the +Z direction.
8. The compact on-chip polarization splitter-rotator based on a Bezier curve gradient waveguide according to claim 7, wherein a width of the input guide region is denoted as W.sub.1, and is the same as that of an extreme terminal of the output guide region; a width of the asymmetrical directional coupling region is denoted as W.sub.2, that is, a front-end width and a back-end width of the Bezier curve gradient region are W.sub.1 and W.sub.2, respectively, and an overall width of the specially-structured waveguide is increased to W.sub.2 from W.sub.1, and then decreased to W.sub.1 from W.sub.2.
9. The compact on-chip polarization splitter-rotator based on a Bezier curve gradient waveguide according to claim 8, wherein a width of the common output waveguide is denoted as W.sub.3, W.sub.3 being smaller than W.sub.1.
10. The compact on-chip polarization splitter-rotator based on a Bezier curve gradient waveguide according to claim 9, wherein W.sub.1=0.5 μm, W.sub.2=0.86 μm, W.sub.3=0.425 μm, L.sub.tp=34 μm, L.sub.DC=18 μm, and W.sub.gap=0.1 μm.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0019] To describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure or in the prior art more clearly, the following briefly describes the accompanying drawings required for describing the embodiments or the prior art. Apparently, the accompanying drawings in the following description show some embodiments of the present disclosure, and a person of ordinary skill in the art may still derive other drawings from these accompanying drawings without creative efforts.
[0020] FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an on-chip polarization splitter-rotator based on a Bezier gradient waveguide according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, where the figure above is a three-dimensional structural view, and the figure below is a top view;
[0021] FIG. 2 shows a curve illustrating the change of the effective refractive index of the Eigenmode at a wavelength of 1,550 nm over a width of the rectangular silicon waveguide based on the Bezier curve gradient structure at specific geometric parameters according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0022] FIG. 3 shows a correspondence between length L.sub.tp of a mode converter and control point location factors f.sub.2 and f.sub.3 of the Bezier curve if the conversion efficiency of the TM.sub.0-TE.sub.1 mode converter is higher than −0.1 dB during input of the TM.sub.0 mode and TE.sub.0 mode with the wavelength of 1,550 nm at the input terminal based on the Bezier curve gradient structure under specific geometric parameters according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0023] FIG. 4 shows a curve illustrating the change of the coupling efficiency of a directional coupler under different air vent gaps W.sub.gap over the length L.sub.DC of a coupler based on specific geometric parameters according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0024] FIG. 5 is a diagram of the magnetic field distribution in the XOZ plane when the TM0 mode (FIG. 5b) and TE0 mode (FIG. 5a) are input with the wavelength of incident light of 1,550 nm according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0025] FIG. 6(a) shows a transmissivity spectrum regarding the output of the TE.sub.0 mode and TM.sub.0 mode at each terminal during input of different polarization modes according to the present disclosure;
[0026] FIG. 6(b) shows conversion efficiency for two orthogonal fundamental modes when different polarization modes are input according to the present disclosure;
[0027] FIG. 7(a) shows a curve illustrating change of insertion loss and polarization conversion efficiency of two orthogonal fundamental modes over errors of a width ΔW.sub.tp in the +Z direction according to the present disclosure;
[0028] FIG. 7(b) shows a curve illustrating change of insertion loss and polarization conversion efficiency of two orthogonal fundamental modes over errors of a width ΔW.sub.DC of a mode coupling region according to the present disclosure;
[0029] FIG. 7(c) shows a curve illustrating change of insertion loss and polarization conversion efficiency of two orthogonal fundamental modes over errors of SOI wafer thickness Δh according to the present disclosure.
[0030] Reference Numerals: 1. substrate; 2. common output guide waveguide; 3. specially-structured guide waveguide; 4. input guide region of a special waveguide structure; 5. Bezier curve gradient region of a special waveguide structure; 6. asymmetrical directional coupling region of a special waveguide structure; and 7. output guide region.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
[0031] In order to make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Obviously, the described embodiments are some, rather than all of the embodiments of the present disclosure. All other examples obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art based on the examples of the present disclosure without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.
[0032] FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an on-chip polarization splitter-rotator based on a Bezier gradient waveguide according to the present disclosure. With reference to FIG. 1, the Bezier gradient waveguide includes an oxide substrate 1 composed of silicon dioxide; two segments of silicon waveguides with different structures are disposed at the top of the substrate 1, namely a common waveguide structure 2 and a special waveguide structure 3; the special waveguide structure includes a polarization splitter-rotator structure composed of an input region 4, a Bezier curve gradient region 5, a directional coupling region 6, and an output guide region 7, where the waveguides on the substrate 1 are both made of a silicon material.
[0033] It should be noted that since it is based on a general cascade structure, the structural size of a PSR is large, adding to the cost in fabrication. Therefore, proposed herein is a novel ultra-wideband PSR based on the principle of mode evolution, which is an effective solution that can split input light signals TE.sub.0 and TM.sub.0 and firstly indirectly convert the TM.sub.0 mode into TE.sub.1 mode, and into TE.sub.0 for output. It is realized that while retaining the information carried by two orthogonal polarization signals, there is only one polarization state in a line, which avoids polarization-dependent dispersion and polarization-dependent loss. Therefore, the device is widely used in PICs, polarization division multiplexing coherent light communication and quantum communication, thus providing a reference for the miniaturization of photonic devices in the future.
[0034] In the previously reported PSR devices based on the SOI platform and the principle of mode evolution, multiple segments of tapered waveguides with different slopes are commonly spliced to form mode converters, a smaller slope is used within a width interval where mode hybridization is remarkable, and a larger slope is used within a width interval where mode hybridization is less remarkable, so as to reduce the size of a device. Moreover, a boundary effect exists in the benefit brought by the increase of tapered sections, and the benefit decreases constantly as the structure becomes gradually complicated.
[0035] Proposed herein is a polarization splitter-rotator composed of a Bezier curve gradient structure and a directional coupler, where the gradient region achieves width gradient based on the Bezier curve. The continuous slope transformation of the Bezier curve helps to reduce the size of the device, and in combination with the asymmetrical directional coupler with high coupling efficiency, the degree of integration of the polarization splitter-rotator is further improved. As compared to multi-slope tapered waveguides, the polarization splitter-rotator is simpler, and can be fabricated by single-step etching, thus having higher practical value.
[0036] Embodiments of the present disclosure can split input light signals TE.sub.0 and TM.sub.0, convert the TM.sub.0 mode into the TE.sub.1 mode in a specific waveguide structure region, and convert the TE.sub.1 mode into the TE.sub.0 mode for output in a specific coupling area. The compact on-chip polarization splitter-rotator of a Bezier curve gradient waveguide structurally includes a silica substrate, a common output waveguide and a specially-structured waveguide, the special waveguide being structurally composed of an input region, an output region, a Bezier curve gradient region and an asymmetrical polarization coupling region; a polarization mode coupling region composed of a Bezier curve gradient waveguide and an asymmetrical directional coupler, in which TM.sub.0 mode can be converted into TE.sub.0 mode and output in a splitting manner.
[0037] Further, regarding the Bezier curve gradient structure, air is taken as a medium, the substrate is composed of silicon dioxide, and the refractive index of the silicon dioxide at the wavelength of 1,550 nm is n.sub.sio2=1.445.
[0038] Further, the Bezier curve gradient region is gradually widened in the Z direction, has an outer contour defined by a third-order Bezier curve, and the material used is also silicon.
[0039] Further, two waveguide structures of the asymmetrical directional coupling region are partitioned by an air gap as a medium, and both are made of silicon, and at the wavelength of 1,550 nm, the refractive index of the silicon is n.sub.si=3.455; the input guide region and the output guide region are partitioned by air.
[0040] Further, the thickness of the silicon layer in the standard SOI-based wafer structure is 220 nm, and the thickness of oxide (BOX, SiO.sub.2) buried at the bottom layer is 2 μm.
[0041] Further, regarding the input guide waveguide and the output guide waveguide, a width of the cross-end waveguide on the left side is W.sub.3, and a width of the specially-structured waveguide on the right side changes from W.sub.1 to W.sub.2, and then from W.sub.2 to W.sub.1.
[0042] Further, the shape of the outer contour of the Bezier curve gradient waveguide is defined by the third-order Bezier curve, the middle end points for controlling the curve shape are P.sub.1 and P.sub.2, respectively, the waveguide length is L.sub.tp, and a front-end width and a back-end width of the Bezier curve gradient waveguide are W.sub.1 and W.sub.2, respectively.
[0043] Further, the asymmetrical directional coupler is composed of two waveguides, a width of the cross-end waveguide on the left side is W.sub.3, a width of the input-port waveguide on the right side is W.sub.1, the waveguide gap is W.sub.gap, and the length of the waveguide coupling region is L.sub.DC.
[0044] It should be noted that with reference to FIG. 1 in the present disclosure, the Bezier curve gradient waveguide structure is a standard SOI-based wafer structure, the parameters of which are respectively set to be: W.sub.1=0.5 μm, W.sub.2=0.86 μm, W.sub.3=0.425 μm, L.sub.tp=34 μm, L.sub.DC=18 μm and W.sub.gap=0.1 μm. Under the above parameter settings, the ultra-wideband on-chip polarization splitter-rotator can operate for two kinds of input polarized light TE.sub.0 and TM.sub.0 within a wide working waveband of 1,500 nm to 1,700 nm, while achieving low insertion loss and high polarization conversion efficiency and crosstalk. Tolerance analysis shows that the polarization splitter-rotator has robustness at a high bandwidth.
[0045] FIG. 1 shows the structure of the designed PSR, which includes a Bezier curve gradient TM.sub.0-TE.sub.1 mode converter and a mode splitter of an asymmetrical directional coupler structure. The lengths of the two parts are L.sub.tp and L.sub.DC, respectively. From the input terminal (W.sub.1) to the output terminal (W.sub.2) of the TM.sub.0-TE.sub.1 mode converter, as can be seen from the top view, one side of the strip-shaped waveguide is in the shape of a Bezier curve, and its slope is controlled by the position of the control points P.sub.1 and P.sub.2 of the Bessel curve. In the direction of light transmission, this section of waveguide changes from a single-mode waveguide that only supports orthogonal fundamental modes to a multimode waveguide supporting higher-order modes. In this process, the TM.sub.0 mode input at the input terminal (W.sub.1) will be coupled to the TE.sub.1 mode on the output terminal (W.sub.2), and the position of the control points P.sub.1 and P.sub.2 of the Bezier curve will be optimized together with the length L.sub.tp of the mode converter to achieve the highest coupling efficiency. The following part comes to the mode splitting/directional coupler. An asymmetrical directional coupler structure is formed from a narrow cuboid waveguide (width of W.sub.3) placed in parallel on the left side and the rear part of the specially-structured waveguide on the right side (part with a width of W.sub.2). By controlling a width W.sub.3 of a narrow waveguide, the phase matching of TE.sub.1-TE.sub.0 is formed, thus splitting between the TE.sub.1 and TE.sub.0 modes in a wide waveguide is realized by transferring the energy of the TE.sub.1 mode on the output terminal via mode coupling, and finally, the TM.sub.0 mode on the input terminal is converted into the TE.sub.0 mode on the output terminal of the mode coupling region. Additionally, the TE.sub.0 mode of the input terminal will not be converted to other modes due to phase mismatch. Similarly, the TE.sub.0 mode on the directional coupler structure will not have energy coupling and will pass through the coupling region and be output in the +Z direction, thus realizing the function of polarization splitting and rotating. Regarding the wide waveguide, a width of the output terminal at the end of the coupling region gradually becomes smaller so as to restore the end to W.sub.1=0.5 μm, which is the same as that of the input terminal, and a single-mode waveguide is restored to facilitate the connection with other devices.
[0046] FIG. 2 shows a curve illustrating the change of the effective refractive index of the Eigenmode over a width of the rectangular silicon waveguide at a wavelength of 1,550 nm. It can be seen that when the waveguide width is less than 0.67 μm, the effective refractive index of quasi-TM.sub.0 mode is higher than that of quasi-TE.sub.1 mode; and when the waveguide width is greater than 0.67 μm, the effective refractive index of quasi-TE.sub.1 mode is higher than that of quasi-TM.sub.0 mode. There exists strong mode hybridization between TE.sub.1 mode and TM.sub.0 mode in the vicinity of the waveguide width of 0.67 μm. The red dot in FIG. 2 shows the starting and ending range of mode hybridization. In a gradient waveguide, this kind of mode hybridization will lead to mode conversion, e.g., the TM.sub.0 mode transmitted in the waveguide will be converted to TE.sub.1 mode. It should be noted that the mode conversion process can only be achieved with the combination of appropriate coupling length. In order to take into account both short coupling length and high conversion efficiency, more energy should be converted from TM.sub.0 mode to TE.sub.1 mode in the region with a strong mode hybridization effect (as shown in the black elliptical region), which means that an efficient TM.sub.0-TE.sub.1 mode converter will make more use of this width interval, thus allocating more coupling lengths within this interval. In other words, the waveguide width transformation within this interval is smoother than that within other intervals.
[0047] FIG. 3 shows a correspondence between length L.sub.tp of a mode converter and control point location factors f.sub.2 and f.sub.3 of the Bezier curve if the conversion efficiency of the TM.sub.0-TE.sub.1 mode converter is higher than −0.1 dB during input of the TM.sub.0 mode and TE.sub.0 mode with the wavelength of 1,550 nm at the input terminal based on the Bezier curve gradient structure under specific geometric parameters; it can be seen that when X.sub.2 and X.sub.3 approach the input terminal, a larger coupling length is required for high conversion efficiency, and when X.sub.3 approaches the output terminal, a smaller coupling length is required for efficient mode conversion. At f.sub.2=0.33, f.sub.3=0.67, there is a minimum value 34 μm of L.sub.tp, and at this moment, coordinates of the optimal Bessel function control point are P.sub.2[11.3,8.6], P.sub.3[22.7,5]. From this, an optimal structure of a Bezier curve waveguide can be obtained.
[0048] FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the coupling efficiency of converting from the TE.sub.1 mode in the wide waveguide to the TE.sub.0 mode in the narrow waveguide and the coupling length at W.sub.gap=0.1 μm, W.sub.gap=0.12 μm, W.sub.gap=0.15 μm, W.sub.gap=0.2 μm, respectively, and in this figure, the coupling length required for the maximum coupling efficiency is also marked. As can be seen from FIG. 4, the coupling efficiency is first rapidly improved with the increase of W.sub.gap, and due to a larger refractive index difference between a silicon waveguide and air, and a smaller overlapped area between mode fields of two coupling modes, the coupling efficiency is rapidly lowered with the increase of W.sub.gap. Therefore, with W.sub.gap=0.1 μm, the highest conversion efficiency of the corresponding TE.sub.1-TE.sub.0 appears when the length of the directional coupler is L.sub.DC=18 μm, from which the optimal structure parameters of the TE.sub.1-TE.sub.0 directional coupler can be obtained.
[0049] FIGS. 5(a) and 5(b) respectively show a diagram of the magnetic field distribution in the XOZ plane when the wavelength of incident light is 1,550 nm, and the TM.sub.0 mode and TE.sub.0 mode are input at the time optimal structure parameters are selected. The polarization splitter-rotator has an overall length of about 52 μm, with a high degree of integration. When the TM.sub.0 mode is transmitted from the input terminal, the TE.sub.0 mode output can be obtained from the cross-end output terminal of the PSR. Moreover, when the TE.sub.0 fundamental mode is input, it is impossible for the TE.sub.1 higher-order mode to be coupled with the adjacent narrow waveguide because of the phase mismatch, and therefore, the output of the TE.sub.0 fundamental mode is obtained at the output end of the straight waveguide of the PSR. It can be seen that the TE polarized light and the TM polarized light are split, and in the meanwhile, the TM.sub.0 fundamental mode is also converted into the TE.sub.0 mode in the coupling region.
[0050] FIG. 6 shows a transmission spectrum of the designed polarization splitter-rotator for input light signals with different wavelengths of 1,400 nm to 1,700 nm. FIG. 6(a) shows the curve illustrating the change of transmissivity at the cross terminal and the through terminal with the incident wavelength during the input of the TM.sub.0 mode and TE.sub.0 mode, while FIG. 6(b) shows the conversion efficiency of TM.sub.0 mode and TE.sub.0 mode for the target mode, respectively. As can be seen from FIG. 6(a), the polarization splitter-rotator designed herein exhibits excellent crosstalk resistance in each waveband for two different input modes, the crosstalk being lower than −25 dB within the wavelength range of 1,400 nm to 1,700 nm. As can be seen from FIG. 6(b), when the input mode is TE.sub.0, the conversion efficiency is not sensitive to the change of wavelength, while when the input mode is TM.sub.0, the conversion efficiency is relatively low in the short waveband. This is because the input TE.sub.0 mode does not involve mode conversion in the waveguide gradient part, and no energy coupling occurs in the coupling region at both ends. On the contrary, for the input TM.sub.0 fundamental mode, the conversion efficiency is sensitive to the wavelength, which is due to the wavelength dependence of the mode conversion in the tapered region and the mode coupling in the coupling region. When the wavelength is lower than 1,500 nm, the coupling efficiency is relatively low, while in the wavelength range from 1,500 nm to 1,700 nm, the insertion loss is lower than 0.15 dB, and the polarization extinction ratio is higher than 20 dB. Therefore, the PSR has a wide range of operating wavelengths.
[0051] FIG. 7 shows a curve illustrating change of insertion loss and polarization conversion efficiency of two orthogonal fundamental modes over fabrication errors according to the present disclosure; for deviation and errors that may exist in the actual fabrication process, ΔW.sub.tp, ΔW.sub.DC and Δh are adopted to denote a width error of a wide waveguide, width error of a narrow waveguide and the height error of a silicon layer of a device, respectively, and the effects of ΔW.sub.tp, ΔW.sub.DC and Δh on the performance of the PSR are calculated. The results are shown in FIGS. 7(A)-(c), respectively. It can be seen that for the gradient waveguide width error ΔW.sub.tp of −40 nm to 40 nm and the narrow waveguide width error ΔW.sub.DC of −15 nm to 15 nm, during input of the TE.sub.0 fundamental mode, it has little effect on the performance of the device, and the insertion loss is lower than 0.1 dB; while during input of the TM.sub.0 fundamental mode, the polarization conversion efficiency decreases to a certain extent under the influence of error, which is maintained at PER>10 dB and IL<0.6 dB within the tolerance range. By reference to FIG. 7(c), for the gradient waveguide width error Δh from −20 nm to 20 nm, the polarization conversion efficiency PER of each mode is higher than 13 dB and IL is smaller than 0.5 dB; even when 0 nm<Δh<13 nm, the error will slightly improve the final performance of a PSR, which may be caused by the increase of coupling efficiency along with the increase of the silicon chip area. Error analysis shows that under the error of ±20 nm, the performance of the device is still stable, and as compared to optimal parameters, PER and CT are reduced by about 5 dB, and IL is lowered about 0.4 dB. Such tolerance space can significantly improve the yield during fabrication.
[0052] In this embodiment, the common waveguide structure is composed of a cuboid waveguide, and the specially-structured waveguide is composed of an input region, an output region, a width-gradient waveguide (Bezier curve gradient structure) and a coupling region. A width of the gradient waveguide is determined by a third-order Bezier curve, and the coupling region is composed of two asymmetrical waveguide regions. Waveguide structures on the substrate at the bottom layer are both made of silicon. In this embodiment, based on the silicon dioxide substrate, two waveguides possess the same thickness, and evanescent wave coupling is achieved merely through the gradient change in a width direction. The compact on-chip polarization splitter-rotator achieves polarization splitting and rotating on two kinds of input polarized light TE.sub.0 and TM.sub.0 within a wide working waveband, having low insertion loss and high polarization conversion efficiency and crosstalk. Tolerance analysis shows that the polarization splitter-rotator achieves higher polarization conversion efficiency and lower insertion loss within a specific device length and wide wavelength range, thus endowing it with superior performance over devices of the same kind.
[0053] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are merely used to explain the technical solutions of the present application, but are not intended to limit the present application. Although the present application is described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, the person of ordinary skill in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments, or make equivalent substitutions on some or all technical features therein. These modifications or substitutions do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.
