Ultra-short plasmonic polarization beam splitter-rotator using a bent directional coupler

Abstract

We propose and analyze a silicon hybrid plasmonic polarization splitter-rotator with an ultra-short footprint using an asymmetric bent directional coupler on a silicon-on-insulator platform. Benefitting from the large birefringence induced by the bent structure and plasmonic effect, the cross-polarization coupling length is only 5.21 μm. The transverse magnetic to transverse electric polarization conversion efficiency is over 99.9%, with an extinction ratio of 20.6 dB (32.5 dB) for the transverse magnetic (transverse electric) mode at 1.55 μm. Furthermore, the polarization conversion efficiency is higher than 90% while maintaining cross talk below −19 dB within the bandwidth of 80 nm.