Abstract

Mode-order converter is a fundamental component in multimode optical interconnect, which is in charge of generating different mode-orders in the optical waveguide. In this article, we propose and design a broadband, nonvolatile tunable mode-order converter based on the platform of silicon and optical phase change materials hybrid meta-structure. When TE₀ mode is input to this device, its functionality can be selectively switched to either keeping original mode-order or converting to another mode-order TE₁ at the output port. The insertion losses are lower than 0.7 dB and 0.9 dB for the states of TE₀ in, TE₀ out and TE₀ in, TE₁ out within the wavelength of 1540–1600 nm. The footprint of the device is 22 μm × 3.5 μm. This platform combines the advantages of compact footprint and flexible function endowed by meta-structures, and dynamically tuning ability and nonvolatile characteristic provided by phase change materials. We envision that the proposed platform not only expands the library of the tunable mode-order converter, but also offers an efficient solution to design a series of tunable multimode devices.

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