C-Band and O-Band Silicon Photonic Based Low-Power Variable Optical Attenuators
We propose and experimentally demonstrate low-power and broadband variable optical attenuators (VOAs) on the silicon photonics platform. The VOAs are based on a Mach–Zehnder interferometer structure. Different variations were fabricated using electron beam lithography using different inpu...
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IEEE
2019-01-01
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| Series: | IEEE Photonics Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8770078/ |
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| author | Eslam El-Fiky Maxime Jacques Alireza Samani Luhua Xu Md. Ghulam Saber David V. Plant |
| author_facet | Eslam El-Fiky Maxime Jacques Alireza Samani Luhua Xu Md. Ghulam Saber David V. Plant |
| author_sort | Eslam El-Fiky |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We propose and experimentally demonstrate low-power and broadband variable optical attenuators (VOAs) on the silicon photonics platform. The VOAs are based on a Mach–Zehnder interferometer structure. Different variations were fabricated using electron beam lithography using different input and output couplers, heater length and width, operating wavelength, and substrate undercut. Experimental results for the C-band VOA show that, including the substrate undercut, a 3X improvement can be achieved in the power consumption, at the expense of a reduction in electrical bandwidth, where 5- and 20-dB attenuation can be achieved using only 5.5 and 8 mW. Moreover, the VOA can operate over more than 80-nm optical bandwidth with ripples below 1 dB. Furthermore, we study the impact of the heater dimensions on the optical attenuation and VOA bandwidth. Finally, we present similar results for an O-band VOA design. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-db827c0b083d40c2b6d5ae8152e4b45a |
| institution | Matheson Library |
| issn | 1943-0655 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IEEE Photonics Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-db827c0b083d40c2b6d5ae8152e4b45a2025-07-01T23:46:55ZengIEEEIEEE Photonics Journal1943-06552019-01-011141810.1109/JPHOT.2019.29305038770078C-Band and O-Band Silicon Photonic Based Low-Power Variable Optical AttenuatorsEslam El-Fiky0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9090-5097Maxime Jacques1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7933-6484Alireza Samani2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9988-3840Luhua Xu3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5685-3526Md. Ghulam Saber4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0993-8428David V. Plant5Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, CanadaDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, CanadaDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, CanadaDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, CanadaDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, CanadaDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, CanadaWe propose and experimentally demonstrate low-power and broadband variable optical attenuators (VOAs) on the silicon photonics platform. The VOAs are based on a Mach–Zehnder interferometer structure. Different variations were fabricated using electron beam lithography using different input and output couplers, heater length and width, operating wavelength, and substrate undercut. Experimental results for the C-band VOA show that, including the substrate undercut, a 3X improvement can be achieved in the power consumption, at the expense of a reduction in electrical bandwidth, where 5- and 20-dB attenuation can be achieved using only 5.5 and 8 mW. Moreover, the VOA can operate over more than 80-nm optical bandwidth with ripples below 1 dB. Furthermore, we study the impact of the heater dimensions on the optical attenuation and VOA bandwidth. Finally, we present similar results for an O-band VOA design.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8770078/Silicon nanophotonics |
| spellingShingle | Eslam El-Fiky Maxime Jacques Alireza Samani Luhua Xu Md. Ghulam Saber David V. Plant C-Band and O-Band Silicon Photonic Based Low-Power Variable Optical Attenuators IEEE Photonics Journal Silicon nanophotonics |
| title | C-Band and O-Band Silicon Photonic Based Low-Power Variable Optical Attenuators |
| title_full | C-Band and O-Band Silicon Photonic Based Low-Power Variable Optical Attenuators |
| title_fullStr | C-Band and O-Band Silicon Photonic Based Low-Power Variable Optical Attenuators |
| title_full_unstemmed | C-Band and O-Band Silicon Photonic Based Low-Power Variable Optical Attenuators |
| title_short | C-Band and O-Band Silicon Photonic Based Low-Power Variable Optical Attenuators |
| title_sort | c band and o band silicon photonic based low power variable optical attenuators |
| topic | Silicon nanophotonics |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8770078/ |
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