Abstract
Input/output couplers are important components of many devices incorporating integrated-optical circuits. Prism couplers and grating couplers are two of the most common types of coupler in use; however, the sensitivity of the coupling characteristics to variations in the wavelength of the light can significantly limit their usefulness for many applications and/or placed tight constraints on other system components. Even thermal fluctuations associated with laser diodes can cause unacceptable changes in the performance of these components. In this paper, we show that the use of a compensating grating external to the waveguide can improve the usable wavelength range for the conventional couplers by several orders of magnitude. For double-grating couplers wavelength ranges of the order of 12 nm are shown to be possible for typical waveguide materials, and for prism/grating couplers the range can be as large as 40-200 nm, making broadband operation possible. Experimental results are presented which show excellent agreement with the theoretically predicted values.
© 1991 Optical Society of America
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