Ultra-wideband Ge-rich silicon germanium mid-infrared polarization rotator with mode hybridization flattening

• Published in: Optics express Vol. 27; no. 7
• Main Authors: Vakarin, V., Ye, W. N, Ramirez, J., Liu, Q., Frigerio, J., Ballabio, A., Isella, G., Vivien, L., Alonso-Ramos, C., Cheben, P., Marris-Morini, D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Optical Society of America - OSA Publishing 2019
• Subjects: Engineering Sciences; Optics; Photonic
• DOI: 10.1364/OE.27.009838
• ISSN: 1094-4087

In this work we investigate the implementation of ultra-wideband polarization rotator in the mid-infrared spectral region. A new design method of the rotation section is proposed, yielding a polarization rotator with an extinction ratio of at least 15 dB in a wavelength range of 2 µm. For a spectral range wider than 3.8 µm, an extinction ratio of at least 10 dB is achieved for this design. The device is 1660 µm long and the associated insertion loss is below 1.2 dB on the full operational wavelength range. The influence of geometrical parameters with respect to the design method to obtain such a broadband behavior is discussed. Finally, to increase the tolerance to fabrication errors, a tapered rotator design is proposed. Such a device can support up to ± 100 nm fabrication errors and still guarantees remarkable broadband behavior. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time an integrated polarization rotator is designed to operate for the wavelength range of 4 to 9 µm with a bandwidth exceeding 2 µm.