Grating couplers with an integrated power splitter for high-intensity optical power distribution

In this letter, we present a fiber grating coupler with an integrated 16-way power splitter. The incoming light from the fiber is split immediately over 16 channels, and therefore, the total optical power is never confined in a single waveguide. This is of particular interest for silicon photonics platforms, because, here, high optical intensities can cause significant non-linear losses. The device has a total coupling efficiency that is similar to standard focusing grating couplers. Furthermore, a channel non-uniformity below 1.1 dB has been obtained. By studying the alignment sensitivity, we found that for high splitting uniformity, a careful positioning of the fiber is necessary. We also experimentally demonstrate that this device is indeed capable of handling high optical powers without introducing additional non-linear losses

Open-access silicon photonics: current status and emerging initiatives

Silicon photonics is widely acknowledged as a game-changing technology driven by the needs of datacom and telecom. Silicon photonics builds on highly capital-intensive manufacturing infrastructure, and mature open-access silicon photonics platforms are translating the technology from research fabs to industrial manufacturing levels. To meet the current market demands for silicon photonics manufacturing, a variety of open-access platforms is offered by CMOS pilot lines, R&D institutes, and commercial foundries. This paper presents an overview of existing and upcoming commercial and noncommercial open-access silicon photonics technology platforms. We also discuss the diversity in these open-access platforms and their key differentiators

CW operation of III-V microdisk lasers on SOI fabricated in a 200 mm CMOS pilot line

Compact InP-based microdisk lasers on SOI completely fabricated in a 200 mm CMOS pilot line are presented. Continuous wave operation is demonstrated with threshold currents of 600 muA and 31 muW output power

Efficient vertical coupling between a silicon waveguide and an InP-based microdisk

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Experimental extraction of effective refractive index and thermo-optic coefficients of silicon-on-insulator waveguides using interferometers

We propose and demonstrate an accurate method of measuring the effective refractive index and thermo-optic coefficient of silicon-on-insulator waveguides in the entire C-band using three Mach-Zehnder interferometers. The method allows for accurate extraction of the wavelength dispersion and takes into account fabrication variability. Wafer scale measurements are performed and the effective refractive index variations are presented for three different waveguide widths: 450, 600, and 800 nm, for the TE polarization. The presented method is generic and can be applied to other waveguide geometries and material systems and for different wavelengths and polarizations