Dual transmission band Bragg grating assisted asymmetric directional couplers

The use of artificial dispersion by material structuring is investigated for the design of highly wavelength selective directional couplers. Systems of two highly asymmetric coupled waveguides are considered with the artificial dispersion created by distributed Bragg gratings (BGs) operated near photonic band gap. It is shown that even in the case of an asymmetrical directional coupler with initially phase matched waveguides, the achievement of high wavelength selectivity requires the fulfillment of a threshold condition on the BG coupling coefficient. The presence of BG(s) leads in turn to the appearance of two transmission bands instead of one. The wavelength selectivity associated to one of these bands is much higher than that obtained in the absence of BG(s). It is also shown that under particular circumstances, dual band operation can be achieved without threshold condition. The directional coupler then exhibits two transmission bands with approximately the same width and a very low level of insertion losses. Such a dual band transmission coupler is expected to offer new functionalities for wavelength demultiplexing applications.