Ultracompact silicon-on-insulator polarization rotator for polarization-diversified circuits

We present an ultracompact (15.3 mu m long) and high-efficiency silicon-on-insulator polarization rotator designed for polarization-diversified circuits. The rotator is comprised of a bilevel-tapered TM0-to-TE1 mode converter and a novel bent-tapered TE1-to-TE0 mode converter. The rotator has a simulated polarization conversion loss lower than 0.2 dB and a polarization-extinction ratio larger than 25 dB over a wavelength range of 80 nm around 1550 nm. The rotator has a SiO2 top-cladding and can be fabricated in a CMOS-compatible process. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America