Broadband polarization beam splitter based on a tapered mismatched directional coupler

Abstract

We design and fabricate a broadband micro polarization beam splitter on SOI (Silicon-On-Insulator) substrate which is compatible with the 180 nm COMS process. The polarization splitter is based on mismatch coupling in which a tapered directional coupler structure with slowly varying waveguide width is used. The device is fabricated in Astar-IME silicon photonics platform. When the waveguide width of the wider port of the tapered waveguide is fixed at 550 nm, by sweeping the taper waveguide length in several waveguide width of the narrower port, the polarization splitter can realize high extinction ratios of the both polarizations in a broad wavelength range. When the waveguide width of the narrow port is 410 nm, the device can split the TE and TM polarizations in a 30 μm length with the extinction ratios of the both polarizations more than 15 dB over a wavelength range from 1500 nm to 1600 nm. The proposed polarization beam splitter is not sensitive to the fabrication error and has large tolerance. The polarization extinction ratios are still more than 10 dB in a wavelength range of 100 nm even if the waveguide width of the taper has a 50 nm fabrication error. Due to its simple structure and high performance, we believe this micro polarization beam splitter will be widely used in photonic integrated circuit, optical signal processing, and optical communication devices.