We present results of comprehensive re-design of an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG)-based integrated photonic spectrograph (IPS), using Silica-on-Silicon (SOS) technology, to tailor specific performance parameters of interest to high-resolution (resolving power, R = λ/Δλ= 60,000) exoplanet astronomy and stellar seismology. The compactness, modularity, stability, replicability and small-lightweight-payload of the IPS are a few promising and innovative features in the design of high-resolution spectrographs for astronomy or other areas of sciences. The IPS is designed to resolve up to 646 spectral lines per spectral order, with a wavelength spacing of 25 pm, at a central wavelength of 1630 nm (Hband). The fabricated test waveguides have been stress engineered in order to compensate the inherent birefringence of SOS waveguides. The birefringence values of fabricated test structures were quantified, to be on the order 10-6 (theoretical value required to avoid the formation of ghost-images), through inscription of Bragg-gratings on straight waveguides and subsequent measurement of Bragg-reflection spectra. An interferometer system has been integrated with the SOS-IPS (in the same chip) for the characterization of phase errors of the waveguide array. Moreover, promising results of first fabricated key photonics components to form other complex integrated photonic circuits (IPCs), such as astro-interferometers, using silicon nitride-on-insulator (SNOI) technology are also presented. The fabricated IPCs include multimode interference based devices (power splitter/combiners, optical cross/bar-switches), directional-couplers with varying power ratios, Mach-Zehnder interferometers and an AWG. The first results of annealed, low-hydrogen SNOI based devices are promising and comparable to SOI and commercial devices, with device excess-loss less than 2 dB and under 1 dB/cm waveguide-loss in the IR-wavelength.
A conventional Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG) has been modified, without output receiver waveguides, for nonconventional
applications such as Astrophotonics and spectroscopy sensing where the input signal can have information
over the entire band and a continuum of light/spectrum. The material system chosen for the AWG design is siliconnitride/
SiO2/Si (Si3N4-SiO2-Si) for its relatively high refractive index, which for a given channel spacing allowing a
more compact device than Silicon-on-Silica. Further, CMOS compatibility and the presence of high non-liner optical
coefficient would be an added advantage to design and fabricate densely integrated photonic sub-systems, such as
calibration source and AWG, for astrophotonics and spectroscopy. The proposed AWG utilizes a flat image plane
optimized for minimal aberration. An analytical calculation, based on Gaussian beam approximation, was used to
determine the optimal flat plane position where the non-uniformity in 1/e electric field widths is minimal. This plane can
be used as the dicing plane to re-image the entire output of the AWG onto a detector array to sample the entire spectrum.
Tailored AWG, with flat image-plane, designed to resolve 48 spectral channels with 0.4nm (50GHz) resolution and
adjacent channel cross-talk level within a 0.2nm window (ITU-grid) ~ -28dB. Calculated insertion loss non-uniformity is
close to 3dB. The foot-print of high index contrast (Δn=23%) IPS is ~ 12x8.5 mm2. The modelled mean spectral
resolving power, R, at the flat image-plane is ~ 7,600. The design principle could be utilised for devices using other
material systems with different parameters.
We here discuss recent progress on astronomical optical frequency comb generation at innoFSPEC-Potsdam. Two
different platforms (and approaches) are numerically and experimentally investigated targeting medium and low
resolution spectrographs at astronomical facilities in which innoFSPEC is currently involved. In the first approach, a
frequency comb is generated by propagating two lasers through three nonlinear stages – the first two stages serve for the
generation of low-noise ultra-short pulses, while the final stage is a low-dispersion highly-nonlinear fibre where the
pulses undergo strong spectral broadening. In our approach, the wavelength of one of the lasers can be tuned allowing
the comb line spacing being continuously varied during the calibration procedure – this tuning capability is expected to
improve the calibration accuracy since the CCD detector response can be fully scanned. The input power, the dispersion,
the nonlinear coefficient, and fibre lengths in the nonlinear stages are defined and optimized by solving the Generalized
Nonlinear Schrodinger Equation. Experimentally, we generate the 250GHz line-spacing frequency comb using two
narrow linewidth lasers that are adiabatically compressed in a standard fibre first and then in a double-clad Er/Yb doped
fibre. The spectral broadening finally takes place in a highly nonlinear fibre resulting in an astro-comb with 250
calibration lines (covering a bandwidth of 500 nm) with good spectral equalization.
In the second approach, we aim to generate optical frequency combs in dispersion-optimized silicon nitride ring
resonators. A technique for lowering and flattening the chromatic dispersion in silicon nitride waveguides with silica
cladding is proposed and demonstrated. By minimizing the waveguide dispersion in the resonator two goals are targeted:
enhancing the phase matching for non-linear interactions and producing equally spaced resonances. For this purpose,
instead of one cladding layer our design incorporates two layers with appropriate thicknesses. We demonstrate a nearly
zero dispersion (with +/- 4 ps/nm-km variation) over the spectral region from 1.4 to 2.3 microns.
The techniques reported here should open new avenues for the generation of compact astronomical frequency comb
sources on a chip or in nonlinear fibres.
A conventional Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG) has been tailored for non-conventional applications such as Astro-Photonics, Life-science and spectroscopy where the input signal can have information over the full continuum of
light/spectrum, compared to discrete optical channels in optical communication systems. The material system chosen for
the AWG design is silicon-nitride/SiO2/Si (Si3N4-SiO2-Si) for it's relatively high refractive index, which for a given
channel spacing allowing a more compact device than Silicon-on-Silica. While existing conventional AWGs cannot be
utilized in spectroscopy when the input is a continuum, due to the fixed output waveguides where the centre wavelength
λc and therefore rest of the wavelength channels have been assigned to predetermined output waveguides, the device
under development has no output waveguides permitting to utilize the entire-image plane of the output star-coupler. The
output of the AWG can then be re-imaged onto a detector array to sample the entire output spectrum, such as the 2-D
infrared arrays used in astronomy. The designed AWG can resolve up to 40 spectral channels with wavelength spacing
0.4nm (50GHz), adjacent channel cross-talk level < -25dB at the ITU grid (25GHz) and non-uniformity ~ 2.5dB. The
modeled mean spectral resolving power, R, at the flat image-plane is ~ 12,200.
A technique for flattening the chromatic dispersion in silicon nitride waveguides with silica cladding is proposed and
numerically investigated. By modifying the transversal dimensions of the silicon nitride core and by adding several
cladding layers with appropriate refractive indices and thicknesses, we demonstrate dispersion flattening over large
spectral bandwidths in the near infrared. We analyze several cladding refractive index profiles that could be realistically
fabricated by using existing materials and doping procedures.
We show that cladding engineering allows for much more dispersion control (and flattening) in comparison with
optimizing only the core transversal dimensions. For the latter case it is demonstrated that while the zero dispersion
wavelength can be shifted to a great extent, the effect of the cross-section adjustment in the flatness is very limited. In
sharp contrast, by adding two cladding layers and decreased refractive index values, the dispersion ripple can be strongly
reduced. By further adding one more layer and by adjusting their refractive indices it is possible to obtain nearly constant
chromatic dispersion (only +/- 3 ps/nm-km variation) over the spectral region from 1.8 to 2.4 microns. In our
calculations, the analyzed change in the silica or silicon nitride refractive index is up to +/-3%. Our technique should
open new avenues for the demonstration of high-performance nonlinear devices on a chip. Furthermore highly dispersive
integrated photonic components can be envisaged for slow light applications and integrated photonics spectrographs.
An integrated ratiometric wavelength monitor consisting of a Y-branch and a pair of symmetrical multimode interference
structures (MMI) based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) is investigated numerically. Two symmetrical MMIs are optimized
in terms of width and length to achieve overlapping opposite slope spectral responses. The designed ratiometric structure
demonstrates a suitable spectral response for wavelength measurement, with a high resolution over a 100 nm wavelength
range.
We present a fiber-based Quantum Cryptography (QC) system in which data is acquired by utilizing a new Time-Correlated Single Photon Counting (TCSPC) instrument. This device captures single photon events on two synchronized channels with picosecond resolution over virtually unlimited time spans and with extremely short dead-times (<95ns). The QC system operates at a wavelength of 1550nm and employs an interferometric approach in which quantum-level information is encoded in the relative phase shift between pairs of faint optical pulses generated by a strongly attenuated semiconductor laser. The QC channel and three additional conventional data channels are carried over a single transmission fiber using a coarse wavelength division-multiplexing (CWDM) scheme with a 20nm channel separation. We assess the impact of the various sources of errors in the system, such as imperfect interference visibility, detector dark counts and Raman scattering in the transmission fiber. Secure key distributions with mean photon numbers of 0.1 and 0.2 per pulse pair were demonstrated for transmission distances up to 25km and 38km respectively.
Article reports low loss (better than 0.09dB/cm) germano-silicate planar devices, operating at 1550nm wavelength, with optical combiner/splitters exhibiting greater splitting uniformity (~ 0.08dB) based on multimode interferences with index contrast ~ 0.7%. Excess loss of the device was improved by 0.41dB by designing output access waveguides with two S-bends operating in the Whispering-Gallery-Mode regime (WGM). The total S-bend loss was improved by inserting a straight waveguide between two cured sections, instead of two oppositely curved sections as in the conventional S-bends. This is expected to reduce transition loss about four times the transition loss between two oppositely curved sections. Optimised offsets, between waveguides of different radii, and widening of curved sections resulted in low excess loss while preserving device compactness. The separation of the output access waveguides was limited to just 250μm, for pigtailing/butt-coupling of SMF fibres, to ensure device compactness for future high-density packaging. Silica and doped-silica on silicon films were formed at low temperature, <350°C, with high deposition rates, greater than 1600 Angstroms/min, using plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) technology that suits for mass production. Fabricated lightwave circuits were characterised with special care in order to avoid ambiguities that would arise from power fluctuation in the launching laser source during measurements.
Silica-on-Silicon is a well established technology for the fabrication of low insertion loss planar lightwave circuits. The Ge-doped waveguide core material, deposited with low temperature plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition and not subjected to high temperature annealing, is highly UV light photosensitive, due to residual Ge/Si-OH groups in the material that, similarly to hydrogen loading, can contribute to the formation of those defect centers responsible for the photosensitivity. Gratings have been fabricated using a pulsed 193 nm ArF excimer laser and a phase mask. 25 mm long gratings, written on standard straight waveguides, show a record 47 dB extinction ratio and 0.2 nm rejection bandwidth for TE polarization, without hydrogen loading. Such narrow linewidth filters could find application in dense WDM systems. We designed and fabricated a compact Add/Drop multiplexer based on a high bandwidth, 2x2 multimode interference device, having a Bragg grating written in the multi-mode region. The characterization for the TE polarization prove the proposed Add/Drop principle, showing, in correspondence of the dropped channel, a 30dB dip at the transmitted output and a reflection peak at the drop output, this last having a larger bandwidth, and around 3dB excess loss respect to the transmitted channels.
Silica based planar technology on silicon has been identified as a very serious source of devices for optical communication
s:ystems. Low temperature fabrication of passive and active structures is of special interest as it allows monolithic
integration with temperature sensitive semiconductor components on a common silicon platform.
Standard PEC\'D (Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition) processing for fabrication of silica based optical
waveguides has been investigated to optimize the process parameters. We chose a high power process regime with high
ratio between nitrous oxide and silane gas flows as the best conditions. Significant improvement in optical properties of
silica-on-silicon planar waveguides for optical communication in the 1.50 -1 .55 tmwavelength range has been obtained.
This study is focused on the low temperature plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique used for fabrication of silica based optical waveguides on silicon, utilizing nitrous oxide as an oxidant for both silane and dopant. Fabricated channel waveguide shows total insertion loss of 1.2 dB at 1.55 micrometers , and no absorption peaks associated with N-H and Si-H bonds around 1.5 micrometers have been observed in the as deposited material. This fabrication technology adds flexibility to the monolithic integration of electronic and optical components. Using this technology, a n umber of different couplers based on multimode interference technique have been investigated.
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