OPTICAL COMPONENT

• Main Authors: TERUI, Hiroshi, KIKUCHI, Yuichi, ISHII, Motohaya, SAIDA, Takashi, SHIBAZAKI, Tomoyo
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 13.12.2017
• Subjects: OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS, OR APPARATUS; OPTICS; PHYSICS

An optical component is provided that is stable against temperature change in usage environment and that a first planar lightwave circuit and a second planar lightwave circuit, having different refractive indices, are butt jointed on the end surfaces thereof such that groups of multiple optical waveguides respectively formed on the planar lightwave circuits are optically coupled to each other. In an optical component (500), a first planar lightwave circuit (501) having a first refractive index n 1 and a second planar lightwave circuit (502) having a second refractive index n 2 different from the first refractive index n 1 are butt jointed on the end surfaces thereof perpendicular to an optical axis direction. First to n-th optical waveguides (where n is an integer greater than or equal to 2) are formed on each of the first and second planar lightwave circuits. The first and second planar lightwave circuits are aligned and jointed such that the position of an i-th optical waveguide (where i is an integer greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to n) of the first planar lightwave circuit and that of an i-th optical waveguide of the second planar lightwave circuit are matched on a joint interface. An angle Õ i formed by the i-th optical waveguide of the first planar lightwave circuit and a normal of the interface is configured to vary in accordance with a value of i within a range satisfying the Snell's law.