Micro-electro-mechanically tunable optical phase matching and mode conversion

Mode-division multiplexing (MDM) enables a large increase in the information-carrying capacity of an optical network. Recently, chip-scale MDM devices that can switch different mode orders to different output waveguides have been demonstrated. However, an important milestone showing dynamically tunable mode-order conversion in a single compact device has so far not been reported. In this work, we demonstrate via simulation and measurement a new, to the best of our knowledge, approach for reconfigurable mode conversion using optical micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) to locally modify the effective index in an asymmetric coupler. Modeling shows that dynamic tuning to increase or decrease the mode order is possible. Measurements on fabricated devices are consistent with simulations of reconfigurable mode conversion based on tunable phase matching. Our experimental results demonstrate reconfigurable TE₀-TE₂ to TE₀-TE₁ conversion and validate this new tunable phase-matching approach for mode-division multiplexing.