Wavelength tunable integrated add-drop filter with 10.6 nm bandwidth adjustability

We present the design and characterization of a silicon-on-insulator based bandwidth and wavelength-tunable add-drop filter. The tunability of the device is achieved by independently controlling the central wavelength of two cascaded contra-directional grating assisted couplers. The device was fabricated using e-beam lithography and the tuning is demonstrated using the thermo-optic effect, which was obtained with metal heaters fabricated by a lift-off process. It is experimentally demonstrated that within the wavelength range of 1555 nm to 1573 nm the transmission bandwidth of the device can be tuned from 1.1 nm to 11.7 nm. Moreover, more than 4 nm of central wavelength tuning is demonstrated. The tunability of the central wavelength is limited by the breakdown current of the metal heaters.