Parity-time-symmetric ($\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric) optical waveguide couplers have become a key component for integrated optics. They offer new possibilities for fast, ultracompact, configurable, all-optical signal processing. Here, we study nonlinear properties of finite-size multimode $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric couplers and report a peculiar type of dispersion relation in couplers made of more than one dimer. Moreover, we predict a $\mathcal{PT}$ transition triggered by nonlinearity in these structures, and we demonstrate that with the increase of the number of dimers in the system, the transition threshold decreases and converges to the value corresponding to an infinite array. Finally, we present a variety of periodic intensity patterns that can be formed in these couplers depending on the initial excitation.
In this paper we present the design, manufacturing, characterization and analysis of the coupling ratio spectral response for Multimode Interference (MMI) couplers in Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) technology. The couplers were designed using a Si rib waveguide with SiO 2 cladding, on a regular 220 nm film and 2 μm buried oxide SOI wafer. A set of eight different designs, three canonical and five using a widened/narrowed coupler body, have been subject of study, with coupling ratios 50:50, 85:15 and 72:28 for the former, and 95:05, 85:15, 75:25, 65:35 and 55:45 for the latter. Two wafers of device…
We design compact waveguide couplers via impedance-tunable transformation optics. By tuning impedance coefficients in the original space, two-dimensional metallic and dielectric waveguide couplers are designed with a high efficiency. Through tuning refractive index simultaneously, we find that the transformation medium inside a designed metallic waveguide coupler can be a reduced-parameter material for coupling waves between waveguides with arbitrary different cross sections and embedded media. In the design of dielectric waveguide couplers, we apply two different schemes: one is that both cor…
We report a study of using the same material to fabricate a whispering gallery mode resonator and a coupler. Coupling to high Q whispering gallery modes of the lithium niobate resonator is demonstrated by means of the titanium-doped waveguide. The waveguide coupling approach opens possibilities for simpler and wider practical usage of whispering gallery mode resonators and their integration into optical devices.
Multimode interference couplers are a fundamental building block in many integrated photonic systems, ranging from high-speed coherent receivers to quantum splitters. However, their basic structure has remained fundamentally unchanged for almost four decades, limiting their size and operation bandwidth. Using sub-wavelength metamaterials, photonic devices with break-through size and performance have been recently reported. Leveraging the inherent anisotropy of these structures, here we derive a semi-analytic expression that enables the design of compact and ultra broadband multimode interferen…
We study analytically the polarization behaviour of directional couplers composed of birefringent waveguides, showing that they can induce polarization transformations that depend on the specific input-output path considered. On the basis of this study, we propose and demonstrate experimentally, by femtosecond laser writing, directional couplers that are free from this problem and also yield a polarization independent power-splitting ratio. More in detail, we devise two different approaches to realize such devices: the first one is based on local birefringence engineering, while the second one…
Coupling of photonic crystal (PC) linear three-hole defect cavities (L3) to PC waveguides is theoretically and experimentally investigated. The systems are designed to increase the overlap between the evanescent cavity field and the waveguide mode, and to operate in the linear dispersion region of the waveguide. Our simulations indicate increased coupling when the cavity is tilted by 60 degrees with respect to the waveguide axis, which we have also confirmed by experiments. We obtained up to 90% coupling efficiency into the waveguide.
Photonic waveguides with triangular cross section are being investigated for material systems such as diamond, glasses and gallium nitride, which lack easy options to create conventional rectangular nanophotonic waveguides. The design rules for optical elements in these triangular waveguides, such as couplers and gratings, are not well established. Here we present simulations of elements designed to couple light into, and out of, triangular waveguides from the vertical direction, which can be implemented with current angled-etch fabrication technology. The devices demonstrate coupling efficien…
We design an efficient coupler to transmit light from a strip waveguide into the flatband slow mode of a photonic crystal waveguide with ring-shaped holes. The coupler is a section of a photonic crystal waveguide with a higher group velocity, obtained by different ring dimensions. We demonstrate coupling efficiency in excess of 95% over the 8 nm wavelength range where the photonic crystal waveguide exhibits a quasi constant group velocity vg = c/37. An analysis based on the small Fabry-Pérot resonances in the simulated transmission spectra is introduced and used for studying the effect of the …
Efficient coupling between on-chip sources and cavities plays a key role in silicon photonics. However, despite the importance of this basic functionality, there are few systematic design tools to simultaneously control coupling between multiple modes in a compact resonator and a single waveguide. Here, we propose a large-scale adjoint optimization approach to produce wavelength-scale waveguide--cavity couplers operating over tunable and broad frequency bands. We numerically demonstrate couplers discovered by this method that can achieve critical, or nearly critical, coupling between multi-rin…
A means to calculate the multimodal spectral response of Bragg gratings in general non-circular multimode waveguides is proposed. To illustrate the power of the technique, the spectra of two Bragg temperature sensors are numerically calculated in which coupling between 100 modes considered. It is shown how the Bragg wavelength in multimode Bragg grating waveguides is affected by the number of modes and energy distribution among them. Good matching of the simulated spectrum of a multimode Bragg grating on a planar inverted rib waveguide to the measured spectrum is seen.
We study a class of three-waveguide axially varying structures whose dynamics are described by the su(3) algebra. Their analytic propagator can be found based on the corresponding Lie group generators. In particular, we show that the field propagator corresponding to three-waveguide structures that have arbitrarily varying coupling coefficients and identical refractive indices is associated with the orbital angular momentum algebra. The conditions necessary to achieve perfect transmission from the first to the last waveguide element are obtained and particular cases are elucidated analytically…
Optical technologies call for waveguide networks featuring high integration densities, low losses, and simple operation. Here, we present polymer waveguides fabricated from a negative tone photoresist via two-photon-lithography in direct laser writing, and show a detailed parameter study of their performance. Specifically, we produce waveguides featuring bend radii down to 40 μm, insertion losses of the order of 10 dB, and loss coefficients smaller than 0.81 dB/mm, facilitating high integration densities in writing fields of 300 μm x 300 μm. A novel three-dimensional coupler design allows for …
Due to the limitations either on the sizes of devices and signal routing channels, the current planar integrated optical waveguide circuits await for the further developments into the three-dimensional (3D) integrations, although their designs and fabrications are still challenges. In this paper we demonstrate an analytical method, basing on the invariant engineering, to overcome the complication in the usual method by numerically solving the relevant 3D coupled-mode equations for designing various 3D optical waveguide devices such as the typical couplers. Our method is based on the quantum-op…
The imaging properties of the Maxwell's fisheye (MFE) lens makes it a viable candidate to implement power coupling between different types of waveguides. A coupler based on the MFE lens is designed to couple a square lattice photonic crystal to a triangular lattice one. The MFE lens is implemented as ring-based multilayer and graded photonic crystal (GPC) structures. The performance of the ring-based MFE lens is better than the GPC-based one in the C-band of optical communication. The proposed ring-based MFE coupler has a footprint of $3.62\times 3.62μm$ and covers the entire C and U bands. Th…
Despite the benefits that directional coupler based parity-time symmetric systems may offer to the field of integrated optics, the realization of such couplers relies on rather strict design constraints on the waveguide parameters. Here, we investigate directional couplers built of asymmetric waveguides that do not fulfill parity-time symmetry. Nevertheless, we demonstrate that for properly designed parameters, at least one mode of such couplers shows a behavior similar to the one observed in parity-symmetric systems. We find an analytical condition relating gain and loss that enables such a b…
Vertical coupling using a diffraction grating is a convenient way to couple light into an optical waveguide. Several optimization approaches have been suggested in order to design such a coupler; however, most of them are implemented using algorithm based modelling. In this paper, we suggest an intuitive method based on S-matrix formalism for analytically optimize 3-port vertical grating coupler devices. The suggested method is general and can be applied to any 3-port coupler device in order to achieve an optimal design based on user constrains. The simplicity of the model allows reduction of …
We demonstrate a novel grating coupler design based on double asymmetric and vertically oriented waveguide scatterers to efficiently couple normally incident light to a fundamental mode silicon waveguide laying on a buried oxide layer.
We present a one-port sensor based on a single diffraction grating delineated over a planar optical waveguide. Distinctly to previously reported devices, the grating here is used not only as I/O coupler, but also provides a built-in reference beam which is basically unaffected by the sensing process as manifested in changes of the effective refractive index of the waveguide. The sensing process causes two effects simultaneously: a change in the angle of the out-coupled beam and a change in the phase accumulated by that beam. Both changes can be determined by their conjunction with the referenc…
Optical I/O plays a crucial role in the lifespan of lab-on-a-chip systems, from preliminary testing to operation in the target environment. However, due to the precise alignments required, efficient and reliable fiber-to-chip connections remain challenging, yielding inconsistent test results and unstable packaged performance. To overcome this issue, for use in single mode on-chip systems, we propose the incorporation of area-enlarged grating couplers working in conjunction with multimode fibers. This combination enables simpler, faster, and more reliable connections than the traditional small …
Metasurfaces have achieved fruitful results in tailoring complexing light fields in free space. However, a systematic investigation on applying the concept of meta-optics to completely control waveguide modes is still elusive. Here we present a comprehensive catalog capable of selectively and exclusively excite almost arbitrary high-order waveguide modes of interest, leveraging silicon metasurface-patterned silicon nitride waveguides. By simultaneously engineering the phase-matched gradient of the metasurface and the vectorial spatial modal overlap between the nanoantenna near-field and target…
Most recently, two remarkable papers [New J. Phys. 21, 113004 (2019); IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron 27, 1 (2020)] propose broadband complete transfer terahertz (THz) surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) waveguide coupler by applying coherent quantum control -- Stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP). However, previous researches request three SPPs waveguides coupler. In this paper, we propose a new design of a broadband complete transfer THz SPPs coupler with an innovative structure of two waveguides by employing two state adiabatic following. In order to realize this design, we introduc…
We propose a method to efficiently pump an excited mode of a multimode optical waveguide starting from a fundamental-mode input by combining Stark-Chirped Rapid Adiabatic Passage (SCRAP) and Supersymmetry (SUSY) transformations. In a two-waveguide set, we implement SCRAP by modulating the core refractive index of one waveguide, which is evanescently coupled to its SUSY partner. SCRAP provides an efficient transfer of light intensity between the modes of different waveguides, while SUSY allows to control which modes are supported. Using both techniques allows to achieve fidelities above 99% for…
Employing counterdiabatic shortcut to adiabaticity (STA), we design shorter and robust achromatic two- and three- waveguide couplers. We assume that the phase mismatch between the waveguides has a sign flip at maximum coupling, while the coupling between the waveguides has a smooth spatial shape. We show that the presented coupler operates as a complete achromatic optical switch for two coupled waveguides and as an equal superposition beam splitter for three coupled waveguides. An important feature of our devices is that they do not require larger coupling strength as compared to previous desi…
We propose and design an ultra-compact and broadband tunable multimode interference (MMI) splitter in mid-infrared based on graphene plasmonic waveguides. The size of the device is only 0.56μm*1.2μm, which corresponds to device area of only about 0.014λ^2, where λ is the vacuum wavelength. And the center wavelength of the device can be tuned in a broad band from 7μm to 9μm with the Fermi level of graphene varied from 0.5eV to 1eV. Furthermore, the device is easy to be fabricated on chip.
Efficient fiber-to-waveguide light coupling has been a key issue in integrated photonics for many years. The main challenge lies in the huge mode mismatch between an optical fiber and a single mode waveguide. Herein, we present a novel fiber-to-waveguide coupler, named "L-coupler", through which the light fed from the top of a chip can bend 90° with low reflection and is then efficiently coupled into an on-chip Si waveguide within a short propagation distance (<20μm). The key element is a bent metal-clad waveguide with a big matched input port. According to our finite-difference time-domain (F…
The surface plasmon-polaritons (SPPs) switch is the key element of the integrated devices in optical computation and terahertz (THz) communications. In this paper, we propose a novel design of THz SPPs switch based on quantum engineering. Due to the robustness of coherent quantum control technique, our switch is very robust against with perturbations of geometrical parameters and presents a good performance at on-state (and off-state) from 0.5 THz to 0.7 THz. The on-state and off-state of our device can be controlled by the external voltage. We believe this finding will be the great improvemen…
We report enhanced optomechanical coupling by embedding a nano-mechanical beam resonator within an optical race-track resonator. Precise control of the mechanical resonator is achieved by clamping the beam between two low-loss photonic crystal waveguide couplers. The low insertion loss and the rigid mechanical support provided by the couplers yield both high mechanical and optical Q-factors for improved signal quality.
We design a focusing grating coupler by a simultaneous apodization of the filling factor and the period. In addition to in plane focusing to the input waveguide providing a total length of less than 70μm, a further apodization of the curvature allows out of plane focusing into a fiber set 150μm away from the grating surface. The design is proposed for novel semiconductor on insulator waveguides such as GaInP. The coupling efficiency is calculated from two dimensional simulation which is about 45%.
When an optical pulse is spatially localized in a highly multimoded waveguide, its energy is typically distributed among a multiplicity of modes, thus giving rise to a speckled transverse spatial profile that undergoes erratic changes with propagation. It has been suggested theoretically that pulsed multimode fields in which each wavelength is locked to an individual mode at a prescribed axial wave number will propagate invariantly along the waveguide at a tunable group velocity. In this conception, an initially localized field remains localized along the waveguide. Here, we provide proof-of-p…
In this paper, we propose a method for the generation of higher dimensional modal entanglement through type II spontaneous parametric down conversion process using a three waveguide directional coupler in a periodically poled lithium niobate substrate. We show that by a proper design, it is possible to achieve an output state of two photons occupying three different spatial modes. The advantage of using such waveguide structure is its flexibility and the design space availability to achieve desired characteristics of the photon pairs generated in the down conversion process
We experimentally demonstrate broadband waveguide crossing arrays showing ultra low loss down to $0.04\,$dB/crossing ($0.9\%$), matching theory, and crosstalk suppression over $35\,$dB, in a CMOS-compatible geometry. The principle of operation is the tailored excitation of a low-loss spatial Bloch wave formed by matching the periodicity of the crossing array to the difference in propagation constants of the 1$^\text{st}$- and 3$^\text{rd}$-order TE-like modes of a multimode silicon waveguide. Radiative scattering at the crossing points acts like a periodic imaginary-permittivity perturbation t…
We reveal a generic connection between the effect of time-reversals and nonlinear wave dynamics in systems with parity-time (PT) symmetry, considering a symmetric optical coupler with balanced gain and loss where these effects can be readily observed experimentally. We show that for intensities below a threshold level, the amplitudes oscillate between the waveguides, and the effects of gain and loss are exactly compensated after each period due to {periodic time-reversals}. For intensities above a threshold level, nonlinearity suppresses periodic time-reversals leading to the symmetry breaking…
A highly sensitive refractive index sensor based on grating-assisted strip waveguide directional coupler is proposed. The sensor is designed using two coupled asymmetric strip waveguides with a top-loaded grating structure in one of the waveguides. Maximum light couples from one waveguide to the other at the resonance wavelength, and the change in resonance wavelength with the change in refractive index of the medium in the cover region is a measure of the sensitivity. The proposed sensor would be an on-chip device with a high refractive index sensitivity of ~ 104 nm/RIU, and negligible temper…
We propose a directional coupler exploiting the framework of adiabatic passage for two level atomic systems with configuration dependent Allen-Eberly scheme. Recently developed shortcut to adiabatic passage method (STA), which uses transitionless quantum driving algorithm, is applied to the coupler. The study shows that it is possible to reduce the device length significantly using STA, keeping the efficiency of power transfer100%.Shortcut approach shows much superiority in terms of robustness and fidelity in power switching compared to the adiabatic one.
We study light-beam propagation in a nonlinear coupler with an asymmetric double-channel waveguide and derive various analytical forms of optical modes. The results show that the symmetry-preserving modes in a symmetric double-channel waveguide are deformed due to the asymmetry of the two-channel waveguide, yet such a coupler supports the symmetry-breaking modes. The dispersion relations reveal that the system with self-focusing nonlinear response supports the degenerate modes, while for self-defocusingmedium the degenerate modes do not exist. Furthermore, nonlinear manipulation is investigate…
In this paper, we study the possible parametric down conversion processes in a periodically poled customized Lithium Niobate (LiNbO3) ridge waveguide. Our analysis of spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC), first, with a Gaussian pump beam mode and second, with an anti-symmetric Hermite-Gaussian HG (1,0) pump beam mode predict the possible down conversion processes in each case. From our JSA analysis, it is evident that the generated photons pairs in all these cases are negatively correlated and have orthogonal polarizations. In case of the former, degenerate photon pairs are emitted at…
We report on two edge-coupling and power splitting devices for hybrid integration of III-V lasers with sub-micrometric silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguides. The proposed devices relax the horizontal alignment tolerances required to achieve high coupling efficiencies and are suitable for passively aligned assembly with pick-and-place tools. Light is coupled to two on-chip single mode SOI waveguides with almost identical power coupling efficiency, but with a varying relative phase accommodating the lateral misalignment between the laser diode and the coupling devices, and is suitable for the im…
Optical microresonators are of paramount importance in photonic circuits requiring fine spectral filtering or resonant light recirculation. Key performance metrics improve with increasing resonance quality factor (Q) across all applications. The performance of silicon photonic circuits is often hampered by the low-quality factor of planar silicon microresonators, typically of Q~10^4-10^5. On the other hand, bulk whispering gallery mode resonators provide a wide range of materials with intriguing optical properties and exceptionally high resonant quality factors Q>10^7. However, the efficient c…
Here, we demonstrate a new type of 3-dB coupler that has an ultra-broadband operational range starting from 1300 nm to 1600 nm with low fabrication sensitivity. Overall device size is 800 micron including in/out S-bend waveguides. The coupler is an asymmetric non-uniform directional coupler that consists of two tapered waveguides. One of the coupler arms is shifted by 130 micron in the propagation direction, which reduces the phase mismatch between the odd and even mode of the coupled system resulting in a better wavelength-flattened response compared to a not shifted coupler. Moreover, compar…
We report on the first experimental observation of higher-order modes guided by soliton-induced waveguides in unbiased nematic liquid crystals. We find that the nematicon waveguides operate in a bounded power region specific to each guided mode. Below this region the guided beams diffract, above it the mode mixing and coupling give rise to an unstable output.
