Ultra-compact TE-mode-pass power splitter based on subwavelength gratings and hybrid plasmonic waveguides on SOI platform

An ultra-compact TE-mode-pass power splitter, using subwavelength gratings (SWGs) and hybrid plasmonic waveguides (HPWs) on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform is proposed and demonstrated. In the present design, the SWGs are embedded in one input tapered waveguide and two adjacent inverse-tapered waveguides in the bottom layer to form a power splitter for the TE mode. As to the injected TM mode, it is radiated into the claddings and absorbed by two segmented HPWs, located above the bottom layer. Therefore, both polarization handling and power splitting can be realized Simulation results show that, an ultra-compact TE-mode-pass power splitter with length of only 2.7 mu m is achieved, which is so far the shortest one. Moreover, low insertion loss (IL) of 0.64 dB and high extinction ratio (ER) of 20.56 dB are obtained, together with return loss (RL) are 26.60 dB and 23.16 dB for the TE and TM modes at the wavelength of 1.55 mu m, respectively. Besides, the working bandwidth is up to 167 nm (1477 nm similar to 1644 nm) when ER 12 dB and IL < 0.8 dB are satisfied.

Automated summary

The ultra-compact TE-mode-pass power splitter using SWGs and HPWs achieves efficient power splitting and polarization handling in a compact size. Simulation results demonstrate low insertion loss and high extinction ratio at a wavelength of 1.55 μm.