Ultra-Compact Silicon Photonic 512 × 512 25 GHz Arrayed Waveguide Grating Router

Abstract

This paper discusses design, fabrication, and characterization of a 512 × 512 arrayed waveguide grating router (AWGR) with a channel spacing of 25 GHz. The dimensions of the AWGR is 16 mm × 11 mm and is fabricated on a 250 nm silicon-on-insulator platform. The measured channel crosstalk is approximately -4 dB without any compensation for the phase errors in the arrayed waveguides. The AWGR spectrum in the arrayed waveguide grating arms were characterized by using an optical vector network analyzer. Fabrication details of obtaining low loss silicon ridge waveguides are also discussed.