Chapter 6

PASSIVE OPTICAL COMPONENTS

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Fig. 6.0.1. Images of (A) a 16-channel WDM multiplexer, (B) a manually tunable optical filter, and (C) an optical isolator.

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Fig. 6.0.2. Examples of silicon photonic structures fabricated on SOI platform.

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Fig. 6.1.1. Illustration of a fused fiber directional coupler. z is the length of the coupling region..

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Fig. 6.1.2. Calculated splitting ratio as a function of the fused section length, with z0=6mm, a0=62.5μm, and λ=1550nm.

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Fig. 6.1.3. Calculated splitting ratio as a function of wavelength with z0=6mm and a0=62.5μm. The fused section lengths are z=(A)
12.59mm and (B) 21.5mm.

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Fig. 6.1.4. A wavelength-dependent fiber coupler used as (A) a mux and (B) a demux for optical signals at 1320 and 1550nm
wavelengths.

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Fig. 6.1.5. 2×2 optical couplers with (A) free-space optics and (B) fiber optics.

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Fig. 6.2.1. Free-space configuration of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer.

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Fig. 6.2.2. Illustration of an all-fiber MZI with two inputs and two outputs.

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Fig. 6.2.3. (A) MZI power transfer functions T11 (solid line) and T12 (dashed line) with n1=n2=2.387, L1−L2=0.5mm. (B) An MZI is used as a
wavelength interleaver.

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Fig. 6.2.4. Basic configurations of (A) free-space optics and (B) a fiber-optic Michelson interferometer. PZT, Piezo-electric transducer.

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Fig. 6.3.1. Illustration of a Febry-Perot Interferometer with two partially reflecting mirrors separated by a distance d.

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Fig. 6.3.2. Illustration of a circular fringes pattern when a noncollimated light source is launched onto a screen through an FPI.

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Fig. 6.3.3. Transmission vs. the beam incident angle to the FPI with mirror reflectivity R=0.5, mirror separation d=300μm, and media
refractive index n=1. Calculations were made at two wavelengths: λ=1538.5nm (dashed line) and λ=1540.4nm (solid line).

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Fig. 6.3.4. Transmission vs. the signal wavelength with mirror separation d=5mm, media refractive index n=1, and mirror
reflectivity R=0.95 (A) and R=0.8 (B).

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Fig. 6.3.5. Using FPI as a notch filter.

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Fig. 6.3.6. Configuration if an all-fiber FPI.

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Fig. 6.3.7. Fiber-based ring resonator (A) and transfer function (B).

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Fig. 6.3.8. Minimum power transmission of a ring resonator-based filter.

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Fig. 6.3.9. Calculated finesse as a function of the fiber ring loss.

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Fig. 6.3.10. Configuration of a fiber-optic Sagnac loop.

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Fig. 6.4.1. Illustration of fiber Bragg grating. Λ: grating period and L: grating length.

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Fig. 6.4.2. Calculated reflectivities of fiber gratings with κ=1.5m−1, L=10mm, and λbragg=1557nm. Dashed lines: uniform grating; solid line:
apodized grating.

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Fig. 6.4.3. (A) Nonuniform coupling coefficient κ(z) and (B) dividing FBG into short sections for calculation using transfer matrices.

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Fig. 6.4.4. Configuration of a WDM demux based on FBGs.

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Fig. 6.5.1. Reflection and refraction of (A) single optical interface, (B) three interfaces, and (C) multilayer thin-film stacks.

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Fig. 6.5.2. (A) Intensity transfer function and (B) chromatic dispersion of thin-film band-pass filters (Zhang et al., 2002).

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Fig. 6.5.3. Thin-film-based optical filters. T: transmission, R: reflection. (A) Example of an edge filter in simple transmission mode with
transfer function shown in (C). (B) Example of a bandpass filter with transfer function shown in (D).

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Fig. 6.5.4. Thin-film-based WDM DEMUX. (A) and (B) optical circuit configuration and (C) transfer function of a four-channel DEMUX.

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Fig. 6.5.5. Illustration of an arrayed waveguide-grating structure.

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Fig. 6.5.6. Configuration of the star coupler used in AWG.

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Fig. 6.5.7. Transfer function of an AWG with 32 wavelength channels.

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Fig. 6.5.8. Illustration of an acousto-optic modulator/filter. The inset is a picture of acousto-optic deflector from Gooch & Housego (used
with permission)

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Fig. 6.5.9. Acousto-optic filter based on the colinear configuration.

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Fig. 6.6.1. Optical configuration of a polarization-sensitive optical isolator.

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Fig. 6.6.2. Configuration of polarization-independent optical isolator.

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Fig. 6.6.3. Illustration of the operating principle of a polarization-independent optical isolator.

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Fig. 6.6.4. Basic function of a three-terminal optical circulator.

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Fig. 6.6.5. Redirect FBG reflection using (A) a circulator and (B) a 3-dB fiber directional coupler.

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Fig. 6.6.6. Configuration of a polarization-insensitive optical circulator.

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Fig. 6.6.7. Illustration of the operating principle of an optical circulator.

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Fig. 6.7.1. Structure of a slab optical waveguide with a core layer thickness 2d sandwiched between the upper and lower cladding layers.

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Fig. 6.7.2. Solutions of Eqs. (6.7.12) (bold solid lines) and (6.7.13) (dashed lines) for relationship between normalized propagation
constants α2d and β1xd for symmetric and antisymmetric field profiles, respectively. Thin solid lines (quarter circles) represent dispersion
relation of Eq. (6.7.14) for n1=1.47, n2=1.465, λ=1550nm, and d=4, 8, and 32μm.

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Fig. 6.7.3. Field distributions of lowest-order symmetric (dashed line) and antisymmetric (solid line) modes on the cross section of a slab
waveguide. Red and black colors represent field inside and outside of the core layer, respectively.

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Fig. 6.7.4. Illustration of ray traces in a slab waveguide with a thickness of 2d, and the decomposition of propagation constant into
transversal x and longitudinal z-directions.

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Fig. 6.7.5. Cross section of a rectangle optical waveguide with a thickness 2d and a width 2w.

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Fig. 6.7.6. Normalized propagation constant for different modes for two different waveguides. These are numerical solutions of Eqs.
(6.7.32)–(6.7.38) (Marcatili, 1969). (A) A square waveguide, and (B) a rectangular waveguide with the width twice the length of the
thickness.

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Fig. 6.7.7. Illustration of electric field Ex distribution of low-order TM modes on the waveguide cross section.

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Fig. 6.7.8. Illustration of electric field Ey distribution of low-order TE modes on the waveguide cross section.

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Fig. 6.7.9. Illustration of energy transfer between two parallel waveguides.

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Fig. 6.7.10. Cross section of two identical rectangular optical waveguides parallel to each other, and field distributions of the symmetric
and antisymmetric modes.

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Fig. 6.7.11. (A) Index profile of a ridge waveguide and (B) mode profiles of y-polarized optical field and effective index of each mode
(Synopsys simulation software generated).

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Fig. 6.7.12. (A) Top view of a 2×2 waveguide coupler (red) and optical field distribution at different positions along the waveguides. At the
input (z=0), optical field is launched into the waveguide on the left side. (b) Optical field amplitudes carried in the two waveguides at
different positions along the waveguides.

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Fig. 6.7.13. (A) Top view of a 1×3 interference coupler and (B) multimodal field distribution.

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Fig. 6.7.14. (A) SOI wafer layer structure and (B) top layer of the wafer is etched into optical waveguide of width W and thickness T.
Silicon-wire waveguide is defined when g=0, and silicon-rib waveguide is defined when T>g>0.

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Fig. 6.7.15. Effective index (left y-axis) and its derivative (right y-axis) for a silicon wire waveguide. (A) As the function of core
width W with a fixed thickness T=220nm and (B) as the function of core thickness T with a fixed width W=500nm (Okamoto, 2014).

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Fig. 6.7.16. (A) Edge-coupling structure of optical coupling from a tapered fiber to tapered waveguide through a mode converter and (B)
grating based out-of-plane coupling (Carroll et al., 2016).

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Fig. 6.8.1. Comparison between a 1×2 optical directional coupler (A) and a 1×2 optical switch (B).

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Fig. 6.8.2. Illustration of a 1×2 optical switch based on the EA modulators.

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Fig. 6.8.3. (A) Illustration of evanescent-mode coupling between two optical waveguides, (B) optical switching based on the controllable
vertical optical coupling (VOC) between two straight waveguides, (C) a 4×4 optical switch fabric based on VOC, and (D) optical loss
between different input/output port pairs as the function of injection current into the VOC structure (Chen et al., 2015).

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Fig. 6.8.4. 2×2 optical switch made by a Mach-Zehnder interferometer structure.

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Fig. 6.8.5. Cross (A) and bar (B) states of a 2×2 optical switch. 4×4 (C) and 8×8 (D) non-block switch architecture using 2×2 optical
switches as building blocks.

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Fig. 6.8.6. Illustration of a 1×2 acousto-optic switch.

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Fig. 6.8.7. Illustration of molecular orientations of nematic-type liquid crystals: (A) homogenous and (B) homeotropic.

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Fig. 6.8.8. (A) A homogenous liquid crystal cell without an applied electric voltage. Light beam is input from the left. (B) A voltage is
applied on transparent electrodes across the liquid crystal cell, and molecules are aligned with the electric field.

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Fig. 6.8.9. (A) Twisted nematic liquid crystal for polarization rotation of optical signal and (B) molecular orientation is aligned with applied
electric field so that no polarization rotation is introduced.

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Fig. 6.8.10. (A) Polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) cell without electric biasing, and microdroplets introduce strong scattering of
input light, and (B) with the application of electric biasing, light scattering is minimized because of the index match between droplets and
surrounding polymer material.

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Fig. 6.8.11. Illustration of (A) liquid crystal display and (B) variable fiber-optic attenuator based on the liquid crystal inserted between
fibers.

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Fig. 6.8.12. 1×2 optical switch based on the total internal reflection of a liquid crystal cell without (A) and with (B) electric biasing.

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Fig. 6.8.13. (A) Space optical switch and (B) wavelength-selective switch (WSS) based on the liquid crystal arrays.

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Fig. 6.8.14. (A) Image of MEMS array, (B) image of one mirror in the array with tilt (Bishop et al., 2002), and (C) optical configuration of
MEMS switch.

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Fig. 6.8.15. Optical configuration of a 512×512 port 3D MEMS optical switch module. Picture on the right is a 128×128 MEMS chip
(Kawajiri et al., 2012).

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Fig. 6.8.16. Images of MEMS-based DMD. (A) A packaged DMD chip with 5.4μm pitch of micro-mirrors made by Texas Instruments and
(B) zoomed-in image of tilt micro-mirror. (B) Used with permission from Dr. Larry Hornbeck.

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Fig. 6.8.17. Illustration of diffraction angles of a grating.

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Fig. 6.8.18. Optical 1×2 switch uses an area on a DMD.

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Fig. 6.8.19. Optical switch made with switchable waveguide coupling through a MEMS cantilever (Han et al., 2015). (A) A switch point
configuration, (B) and (C) through and drop states, and (D) SEM images of fabricated MEMS switch array.

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Fig. 6.8.20. Crossbar optical switch architecture. T: through state and D: drop state.

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