Binary particle swarm optimized 2 x 2 power splitters in a standard foundry silicon photonic platform

Compact power splitters designed ab initio using binary particle swarm optimization in a 2D mesh for a standard foundry silicon photonic platform are studied. Designs with a 4.8 mu m x 4.8 mu m footprint composed of 200 nm x 200 nm and 100 nm x 100 nm cells are demonstrated. Despite not respecting design rules, the design with the smaller cells had lower insertion losses and broader band-width and showed consistent behavior across the wafer. Deviations between design and experiments point to the need for further investigations of the minimum feature dimensions. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America