Abstract

A broadband dual-mode ${2} \times {2}\;3\,\,{\rm dB}$ power splitter on silicon is proposed by utilizing multimode interference (MMI) couplers with a shallowly etched multimode region. The present MMI coupler is designed optimally to be with reduced phase errors for all the excited higher-order modes in the MMI region by engineering the refractive-index profile with the assistance of a shallowly etched multimode region. Simulation results show the device works well for the ${{\rm TE}_0}$ and ${{\rm TE}_1}$ input modes over the C-band. For the ${{\rm TE}_0}$ input mode, the excess losses (ELs) and the imbalances (IBs) are, respectively, less than 0.4 and 0.12 dB in the wavelength range of 1.5–1.6 µm, while the ELs and the IBs for the ${{\rm TE}_1}$ input mode are, respectively, less than 0.5 and 0.2 dB in the wavelength range of 1.53–1.58 µm. Besides, the intermode cross-talk is less than $-22\,\,{\rm dB}$ for ${{\rm TE}_0}$ and ${{\rm TE}_1}$ modes in the wavelength range of 1.5–1.6 µm. The proposed dual-mode MMI coupler can be extended for more than two input modes.

© 2020 Optical Society of America

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