Ultrasmall polarization splitter based on silicon wire waveguides

We describe an ultrasmall polarization splitter based on a simple directional coupler consisting of silicon wire waveguides. The size is only 7 x 16 mu m(2), and the polarization extinction ratio is about 15 dB for a single coupler. A double-coupler structure improves the extinction ratio to over 20 dB. The excess loss is smaller than 0.5 dB for both types of device. In the device, the shape of the high-speed waveform is retained at any angle of polarization. Our polarization splitter represents a first step towards accomplishing an ultrasmall optical circuit with polarization diversity based on silicon wire waveguides. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.