We report on recent progress in simulations, physical layout, fabrication and hybridization of planar grating-based transceivers for passive optical networks (PONs). Until recently, PON transceivers have been manufactured using bulk micro-optical components. Today, advancements in modeling and simulation techniques has made it possible to design complex elements in the same silica-on silicon PLC platform and create an alternative platform for manufacturing of bi-directional transceivers. In our chips we simulated an integrated chip that monolithically combined planar reflective gratings and cascaded Mach-Zehnder interferometers. We used a combination of the finite element method and beam propagation method to model cascaded interferometers with enhanced coupling coefficients. Our simulations show that low-diffraction order planar reflective gratings, designed for small incidence and reflection angles, possess the required dispersion strength to meet the PON specifications. Subsequently, we created structures for passive alignment and hybridized photodetectors and lasers. We believe that advancements in simulation of planar lightwave circuits with embedded planar reflective gratings will result in displacement of the thin-film filters (TFFs) technology in many applications that require a high degree of monolithic and hybrid integration.

Date Published: 26 October 2007
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 6796, Photonics North 2007, 67963H (26 October 2007); doi: 10.1117/12.778930

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6796:
Photonics North 2007
John Armitage, Editor(s)