Design of Thermo-Optic Variable Optical Attenuator Based on Quartz Substrate

Hongqing Dai,Jianguang Li,Xiongwei Hu,Xiaoguang Zhang,Liangliang Wang,Pan Pan,Yuanda Wu,Hongjie Wang,Jiashun Zhang,Yue Wang,Ruidan Liu,Liyao Zhang,An J

doi:10.4236/opj.2013.32b038

Abstract

In this paper, we designed a thermo-optic variable optical attenuator (VOA) based on quartz substrate, which consists of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) and a thin film heater above the phase-modulation arm. The transmission properties of the waveguide and attenuation characteristics of the device have been simulated by beam propagation method (BPM), and the simulated results illustrated that the designed VOA had good performance.

Highlights

Variable optical attenuator (VOA) is one of the most basic optical passive devices in modern optical network, with a wide range of applications in optical communication and its main function is to control and attenuate optical signal power
We designed a thermo-optic variable optical attenuator (VOA) based on quartz substrate, which consists of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) and a thin film heater above the phase-modulation arm
The transmission properties of the waveguide and attenuation characteristics of the device have been simulated by beam propagation method (BPM), and the simulated results illustrated that the designed VOA had good performance

Summary

Introduction

Variable optical attenuator (VOA) is one of the most basic optical passive devices in modern optical network, with a wide range of applications in optical communication and its main function is to control and attenuate optical signal power. The devices based on SiO2 materials can be directly grown on Si or quartz substrate, which can be integrated with other Si based waveguide devices. We designed a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) thermo-optic variable optical attenuator based on quartz substrate. It eliminated the step of the fabrication of the underclading layer, simplifying the manufacture process. Results of the simulation of the waveguide transmission properties and device attenuation properties illustrated that the designed VOA had good performance

The Principles of VOAs

Design of the Device

Simulation of the Static Loss

Simulation of Attenuation Characteristics

Findings

Conclusions