Simulation of bended planar waveguides for optical bus-couplers

Research output: Contribution to book/conference proceedings/anthology/reportConference contributionContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

In our work an optical bus-coupler is proposed, which enables easy bidirectional connection between two waveguides without interrupting the bus using a core-to-core coupling principle. With bended waveguides the coupling ratio can be tuned by adjusting the overlap area of the two cores. In order to ensure large overlap areas at short coupling lengths, the waveguides have rectangular cross sections. To examine the feasibility of this coupling concept a simulation was performed, which is presented in this paper. Due to multimode waveguides, used in short range data communication, a non-sequential ray tracing simulation is reasonable. Simulations revealed that the bending of the waveguide causes a redistribution of the energy within the core. Small radii push the main energy to the outer region of the core increasing the coupling efficiency. On the other hand, at excessive lowered bend radii additional losses occur (due to a coupling into the cladding), which is why an optimum has to be found. Based on the simulation results it is possible to derive requirements and design rules for the coupling element.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationOptical Modelling and Design IV
EditorsJohn T. Sheridan, Youri Meuret, Frank Wyrowski
PublisherSPIE - The international society for optics and photonics, Bellingham
ISBN (electronic)9781510601345
Publication statusPublished - 2016
Peer-reviewedYes

Publication series

SeriesProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume9889
ISSN0277-786X

Conference

TitleOptical Modelling and Design IV
Duration5 - 7 April 2016
CityBrussels
CountryBelgium

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0002-0757-3325/work/139064925

Keywords

Keywords

  • Non-sequential ray tracing, Optical bus-coupler, Optical modeling, Optical simulation, Planar multimode waveguide, Waveguide bending