Optical beam splitters form a fundamental component in integrated optical systems, performing as modulators, interferometers and (de)multiplexers. While silica is a desirable material, because of its low non-linear susceptibility, it is extremely challenging to achieve the requisite core-clad refractive index contrast. In this work, silica splitters with an effective refractive index difference of 25% between the core and clad is demonstrated. The splitter can divide power evenly with low crosstalk from 1520 to 1630nm. In addition, the splitting ratio doesn't change and the output power increases linearly with the input power, which indicates a low susceptibility to thermal effects. The splitter's polarization independent behavior is also verified.

Date Published: 23 February 2012
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 8270, High Contrast Metastructures, 82700T (23 February 2012);

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8270:
High Contrast Metastructures
Connie J. Chang-Hasnain; Fumio Koyama; Alan Eli Willner; Weimin Zhou, Editor(s)