Abstract
It is often desirable to connect two waveguides of an integrated optical circuit. An obvious solution to this connection problem is shown in Fig. 1a where two waveguides are joined by a slanted straight transition. Aside from the disadvantage of the two sharp tilts in the resulting waveguide, there may be an additional problem with this structure arising from the fact that waveguides for integrated optics are often fabricated with the help of an electron microscope. The electron microscope is used to make the mask that, in turn, is needed for the photolitographic process used to produce the actual waveguide circuit. Some electron microscopes operating under computer control are only able to write vertical or horizontal lines, slanted lines must be approximated by staircase curves. The waveguide of Fig. 1a would thus assume the shape shown in Fig. 1b. In the following discussion we shall always assume that only staircase curves can be produced.
© 1978 Optical Society of America
PDF ArticleMore Like This
H. P. Hsu, A. F. Milton, W. K. Burns, and S. K. Sheem
WD6 Integrated and Guided Wave Optics (IGWO) 1978
Bor-Uei Chen
WA5 Integrated and Guided Wave Optics (IGWO) 1978
M. J. Taylor and H. F. Taylor
WD4 Integrated and Guided Wave Optics (IGWO) 1978