Broadband couplers for hybrid silicon-chalcogenide glass photonic integrated circuits

We report on the design, fabrication and testing of three types of coupling structures for hybrid chalcogenide glass Ge₂₃Sb₇S₇₀-Silicon (GeSbS-Si) photonic integrated circuit platforms. The first type is a fully etched GeSbS grating coupler defined directly in the GeSbS film. Coupling losses of 5.3 dB and waveguide-to-waveguide back-reflections of 3.4% were measured at a wavelength of 1553 nm. Hybrid GeSbS-to-Si butt couplers and adiabatic couplers transmitting light between GeSbS and Si single-mode waveguides were further developed. The hybrid butt couplers (HBCs) feature coupling losses of 2.7 dB and 9.2% back-reflection. The hybrid adiabatic couplers (HACs) exhibit coupling losses of 0.7 dB and negligible back-reflection. Both HBCs and HACs have passbands exceeding the 100 nm measurement range of the test setup. GeSbS grating couplers and GeSbS-to-Si waveguide couplers can be co-fabricated in the same process flow, providing, for example, a means to first couple high optical power levels required for nonlinear signal processing directly into GeSbS waveguides and to later transition into Si waveguides after attenuation of the pump. Moreover, GeSbS waveguides and HBC transitions have been fabricated on post-processed silicon photonics chips obtained from a commercially available foundry service, with a previously deposited 2 μm thick top waveguide cladding. This fabrication protocol demonstrates the compatibility of the developed integration scheme with standard silicon photonics technology with a complete back-end-of-line process.