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Tilted Nano-Grating Based Ultra-Compact Broadband Polarizing Beam Splitter for Silicon Photonics
Haipeng Liu1, Jijun Feng1, Jinman Ge2
1Shanghai Key Laboratory of Modern Optical System, Engineering Research Center of Optical Instrument and System, Ministry of Education, School of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China.
Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland)
|October 23, 2021
Summary
This study introduces a compact silicon polarizing beam splitter using a nano-grating. The device efficiently separates light polarizations, demonstrating potential for silicon photonics applications.
Area of Science:
- Photonics
- Nanotechnology
- Optical Engineering
Background:
- Polarizing beam splitters are crucial optical components for manipulating light polarization.
- Existing silicon-based solutions often face limitations in size, bandwidth, or fabrication complexity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose and demonstrate an ultra-compact broadband silicon polarizing beam splitter.
- To achieve efficient separation of transverse-magnetic and transverse-electric light modes.
- To explore the feasibility of a nano-grating based design for silicon photonics.
Main Methods:
- Design of an ultra-compact polarizing beam splitter utilizing a tilted nano-grating structure.
- Fabrication of the device using a commercial silicon photonic foundry.
- Experimental characterization of the device's performance, including extinction ratio and working bandwidth.
Main Results:
- Achieved efficient cross-coupling for transverse-magnetic light and high transmission for transverse-electric light.
- Demonstrated an ultra-compact device with a coupling region length of only 6.8 μm.
- Obtained an extinction ratio of 23.76 dB at 1550 nm and a working bandwidth of 80 nm (extinction ratio > 10 dB).
Conclusions:
- The proposed tilted nano-grating structure enables ultra-compact and broadband operation for silicon polarizing beam splitters.
- The device exhibits good fabrication tolerance, making it suitable for practical integration into silicon photonic circuits.
- This advancement offers a promising solution for polarization control in integrated photonic systems.
