A Photonic 1 × 4 Power Splitter Based on Multimode Interference in Silicon-Gallium-Nitride Slot Waveguide Structures

Area of Science:

• Photonics and Optical Engineering
• Materials Science
• Semiconductor Devices

Background:

• Optical power splitters are crucial components in optical communication systems.
• Multimode interference (MMI) couplers offer compact and efficient power splitting solutions.
• Slot waveguide structures provide enhanced light confinement and interaction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and simulate a novel 1x4 optical power splitter.
• To utilize a silicon-gallium nitride (Si-GaN) slot waveguide for enhanced performance.
• To achieve uniform power division with low insertion loss in the C-band.

Main Methods:

• Device design based on multimode interference (MMI) coupler.
• Utilized a silicon-gallium nitride (Si-GaN) slot waveguide structure.
• Numerical optimization of device parameters using the full vectorial-beam propagation method (FV-BPM).

Main Results:

• Demonstrated a 1x4 optical power splitter with uniform energy division into four output ports.
• Achieved low insertion losses of 0.07 dB.
• Device operates effectively within the C-band range (1530-1565 nm).

Conclusions:

• The proposed Si-GaN slot waveguide MMI coupler is a promising design for 1x4 optical power splitting.
• The device offers excellent performance characteristics for optical communication applications.
• This represents a novel integration of Si and GaN in a slot waveguide for power splitting.