Abstract
Signal distribution from one to several ports is necessary in various optical communication networks. To meet this requirement, a new integrated optical 1XN single mode star coupler is presented. The principle of operation is based on directional coupling of channel waveguides with linearly varying spacings1. The design objective is to minimize the need for corner bends, and avoid the use of lossy γ-junctions. As a result, a minimum insertion loss is obtained for devices having all output channels equally spaced and perpendicular to a reference edge. Based on these design principles, three slightly different structures are developed, as shown in Fig.1A, B and C respectively. Essentially, the three patterns are based on the same concept of distributed coupling achieved by linearly increasing the waveguide spacings in sets of two or three coupled waveguides. These configurations are designed to provide adequate spacing at the output end to accommodate for coupling to a fiber array. Device length is determined by the appropriate choice of the tilt angle α and the initial spacing cj at the beginning of the various interaction regions. All three patterns are expected to satisfy the requirements, however, there are some trade-offs in certain design and fabrication situations.
© 1982 Optical Society of America
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