Ultra-compact silicon photonic integrated interferometer for swept-source optical coherence tomography

We demonstrate an ultra-compact silicon integrated photonic interferometer for swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT). The footprint of the integrated interferometer is only 0.75×5??mm2. The design consists of three 2×2 splitters, a 13 cm physical length (50.4 cm optical length) reference arm, and grating couplers. The photonic...

Demonstration of Large Coupling-Induced Phase Delay in Silicon Directional Cross-Couplers

We investigate directional couplers in silicon-on-insulator photonic technology. We theoretically and experimentally demonstrate a large coupling-induced phase delay that occurs when nearly all light is coupled from one waveguide to the other, i.e., when the coupler operates as a cross-coupler. We show that even a tiny asymmetry in the two...

Characterization of Integrated Optical Strain Sensors Based on Silicon Waveguides

Microscale strain gauges are widely used in micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) to measure strains such as those induced by force, acceleration, pressure or sound. We propose all-optical strain sensors based on micro-ring resonators to be integrated with MEMS. We characterized the strain-induced shift of the resonances of such devices....

Extension of Marcatili’s analytical approach for rectangular silicon optical waveguides

Marcatili's famous approximate analytical description of light propagating through rectangular dielectric waveguides, published in 1969, gives accurate results for low-index-contrast waveguides. However, photonic integrated circuit technology has advanced to high-index-contrast (HIC) waveguides. In this paper, we improve Marcatili's model by...

Optimized 3D simulation method for modeling of out-of-plane radiation in silicon photonic integrated circuits

We present an accurate and fast 3D simulation scheme for out-of-plane grating couplers, based on two dimensional rigorous (finite difference time domain) grating simulations, the effective index method (EIM), and the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld diffraction formula. In comparison with full 3D FDTD simulations, the rms difference in electric field is...