Abstract

Free choice of splitting ratio is one of the main properties of a power splitter required in integrated photonics, but conventional multimode interference (MMI) power splitters can only obtain a few discrete ratios. This Letter presents both numerical and experimental results of an arbitrary-ratio $1\times 2$ MMI power splitter, which is constructed by simply breaking the symmetry of the multimode region. In the new device, the power splitting ratio can be adjusted continuously from $100:0$ to $50:50$, while the dimension of the multimode section stays in the range of $1.5\times (1.8–2.8)\mathrm{\mu m}$. The experimental data also indicate that the proposed arbitrary-ratio splitter keeps the original advantages of MMI devices, such as low excess loss, weak wavelength dependence, and large fabrication tolerance.

© 2014 Optical Society of America

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