Design and characterization of low-loss 2D grating couplers for silicon photonics integrated circuits

C. Lacava; L. Carrol; A. Bozzola; R. Marchetti; P. Minzioni; I. Cristiani; M. Fournier; S. Bernabe; D. Gerace; L. C. Andreani

doi:10.1117/12.2212458

14 March 2016 Design and characterization of low-loss 2D grating couplers for silicon photonics integrated circuits

C. Lacava, L. Carrol, A. Bozzola, R. Marchetti, P. Minzioni, I. Cristiani, M. Fournier, S. Bernabe, D. Gerace, L. C. Andreani

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9752, Silicon Photonics XI; 97520V (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2212458
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2016, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

We present the characterization of Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) photonic-crystal based 2D grating-couplers (2D-GCs) fabricated by CEA-Leti in the frame of the FP7 Fabulous project, which is dedicated to the realization of devices and systems for low-cost and high-performance passives-optical-networks. On the analyzed samples different test structures are present, including 2D-GC connected to another 2D-GC by different waveguides (in a Mach-Zehnder like configuration), and 2D-GC connected to two separate 2D-GCs, so as to allow a complete assessment of different parameters. Measurements were carried out using a tunable laser source operating in the extended telecom bandwidth and a fiber-based polarization controlling system at the input of device-under-test. The measured data yielded an overall fiber-to-fiber loss of 7.5 dB for the structure composed by an input 2D-GC connected to two identical 2D-GCs. This value was obtained at the peak wavelength of the grating, and the 3-dB bandwidth of the 2D-GC was assessed to be 43 nm. Assuming that the waveguide losses are negligible, so as to make a worst-case analysis, the coupling efficiency of the single 2D-GC results to be equal to -3.75 dB, constituting, to the best of our knowledge, the lowest value ever reported for a fully CMOS compatible 2D-GC. It is worth noting that both the obtained values are in good agreement with those expected by the numerical simulations performed using full 3D analysis by Lumerical FDTD-solutions.

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C. Lacava, L. Carrol, A. Bozzola, R. Marchetti, P. Minzioni, I. Cristiani, M. Fournier, S. Bernabe, D. Gerace, and L. C. Andreani "Design and characterization of low-loss 2D grating couplers for silicon photonics integrated circuits", Proc. SPIE 9752, Silicon Photonics XI, 97520V (14 March 2016); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2212458

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