Models Suggest Integrated Photonic Circuits

A group of researchers at the University of Alabama in Huntsville has reported in the Nov. 18 Optics Express that integrating conventional waveguides and photonic crystal structures can produce compact integrated photonic circuits. To illustrate the approach, the team simulated the performance of a hybrid 90° bend, a beamsplitter and an 18 x 18-µm Mach-Zehnder interferometer based on the two.

Using a 2-D finite-difference time-domain method to model the elements for near-IR wavelengths, the researchers calculated that the bend would display an efficiency of 98.7 percent, the beamsplitter 99.4 percent and the interferometer 97.8 percent. They propose further studies to examine integrated structures in 3-D simulations and the fabrication issues associated with the production of such hybrid photonic elements.