Ultra-broadband and compact graphene-on-silicon integrated waveguide mode filters

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 9874 - 9
• Main Authors: Xing, Peng, Ooi, Kelvin J. A., Tan, Dawn T. H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 29.06.2018; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/624/399/1099; 639/925/918/1054; Fabrication; Filters; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Silicon; Wave division multiplexing; Wavelength
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-28076-8

Increasing bandwidth demands in optical communications necessitates the introduction of mode-division multiplexing (MDM) on top of the existing wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) systems. Simultaneous management of both multiplexing systems will be a complex task, and there is the possibility of signal degradation through modal crosstalk. Here, we propose graphene-on-silicon (GOS) integrated waveguide mode filters to suppress the propagation of spurious waveguide modes at the telecommunications wavelength. Graphene’s high fabrication tolerance potentially enables surgical tailoring and deployment at targeted segments on the waveguide to absorb the undesired TE 0 or TE 1 modes. The proposed GOS waveguide mode filters can potentially improve the performance and reduce the device footprint of MDM systems.