Efficient excitation of self-collimated beams and single Bloch modes in planar photonic crystals

Using finite-difference time-domain calculations, we investigate out-of-plane coupling between a square-lattice planar photonic crystal and a conventional waveguide located above the photonic crystal. We couple a waveguide oriented in the GX direction to a photonic crystal mode in the second band and show that anticrossing takes place. In this way, a self-collimated beam is launched in the planar photonic crystal, with full power transfer. Furthermore, we investigate the coupling between a waveguide oriented in the GM direction and a photonic crystal and show that single photonic crystal modes can be selectively excited

Self-Collimation in Planar Photonic Crystals

We analyze, in three dimensions, the dispersion properties of dielectric slabs perforated with two-dimensional photonic crystals (PCs) of square symmetry. The band diagrams are calculated for all -vectors in the first Brillouin zone, and not only along the characteristic high-symmetry directions. We have analyzed the equal-frequency contours of the first two bands, and we found that the square lattice planar photonic crystal is a good candidate for the self-collimation of light beams. We map out the group velocities for the second band of a square lattice planar PC and show that the group velocity is the highest in the region of maximum self-collimation. Such a self-collimated beam is predicted to show beating patterns due to the specific shape of the equal-frequency contours. A geometrical transformation maps the region of the first and second photonic bands where self-collimation takes place one onto the other and gives additional insights on the structural similarities of self-collimation in those two bands

Ab initio calculation of the deformation potential and photoelastic coefficients of silicon with a non-uniform finite-difference solver based on the local density approximation

AbstractThe band diagram, deformation potential and photoelastic tensor of silicon are calculated self-consistently under uniaxial and shear strain by solving for the electronic wavefunctions with a finite-difference method. Many-body effects are accounted for by the local density approximation. In order to accommodate the large number of grid points required due to the diverging electrostatic potential near the atomic nuclei in an all-electron calculation, a non-uniform meshing is adopted. Internal displacements are taken into account by adding an additional coordinate transform to the method of Bir and Pikus. Good consistency of the calculated deformation potential and photoelastic coefficients is obtained with prior experimental and theoretical results, validating the numerical methods. Furthermore, it is shown that a slight correction of the multiplicative coefficient of the Xα approximation for conduction bands results in good agreement with experiment for both the direct and indirect bandgaps

Hybrid superprism with low insertion losses and suppressed cross-talk

We demonstrate with the two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method that an adiabatic transition in a superprism with an interface along the [1 [overline 2]] direction enhances the transmission through the superprism to more than 90% (–0.5 dB) over the wavelength range 1.47–1.68 µm, including the telecommunication C and L bands. We also show that diffraction governed by a quasinegative index of refraction inside the superprism can be used to obtain nearly transform-limited beam widths at the output of the superprism. The reduction of the beam width at the output suppresses cross-talk and greatly enhances the achievable frequency resolution of the superprism

Chip-to-chip ODDM network with optically enabled equalization

We propose and model an optical communication scheme for short distance datacom links based on the distribution of information across a wide comb spectrum. This modulation format, orthogonal delay division multiplexing, allows the multiplexing of data streams from multiple modulators, as well as the deserialization and equalization of the data in the optical domain. A concrete communication system, that allows the transport of 400 Gb/s across a single CWDM channel with a single 80 GHz cutoff lithium niobate on insulator modulator, is modeled under consideration of all noise sources present in the system and its sensitivity to group velocity dispersion is analyzed. Data is deserialized and equalized at the receiver with a 5-tap optical equalizer. This communication architecture may provide a path forward to implement high-baud-rate signaling in short-reach optical links without requiring high-speed ADCs and electronic deserializers at the receiver, thus maintaining the in-package power consumption at manageable levels

Edge Couplers with relaxed Alignment Tolerance for Pick-and-Place Hybrid Integration of III-V Lasers with SOI Waveguides

We report on two edge-coupling and power splitting devices for hybrid integration of III-V lasers with sub-micrometric silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguides. The proposed devices relax the horizontal alignment tolerances required to achieve high coupling efficiencies and are suitable for passively aligned assembly with pick-and-place tools. Light is coupled to two on-chip single mode SOI waveguides with almost identical power coupling efficiency, but with a varying relative phase accommodating the lateral misalignment between the laser diode and the coupling devices, and is suitable for the implementation of parallel optics transmitters. Experimental characterization with both a lensed fiber and a Fabry-P\'erot semiconductor laser diode has been performed. Excess insertion losses (in addition to the 3 dB splitting) taken as the worst case over both waveguides of respectively 2 dB and 3.1 dB, as well as excellent 1 dB horizontal loss misalignment ranges of respectively 2.8 um and 3.8 um (worst case over both in-plane axes) have been measured for the two devices. Back-reflections to the laser are below -20 dB for both devices within the 1 dB misalignment range. Devices were fabricated with 193 nm DUV optical lithography and are compatible with mass-manufacturing with mainstream CMOS technology

Segmented waveguides in thin silicon-on-insulator

We have developed new silicon-on-insulator waveguide designs for simultaneously achieving both low-loss optical confinement and electrical contacts, and we present a design methodology based on calculating the Bloch modes of such segmented waveguides. With this formalism, waveguides are designed in a single thin layer of silicon-on-insulator to achieve both optical confinement and minimal insertion loss. Waveguides were also fabricated and tested, and the measured data were found to closely agree with theoretical predictions, demonstrating input insertion loss and propagation loss better than 0.1 dB and -16 dB/cm, respectively