Precise control of dispersion flatness in silicon nitride waveguides by cladding refractive index engineering

D. Bodenmüller; J. M. Chavez Boggio; H. N. J. Fernando; R. Haynes; M. M. Roth

doi:10.1117/12.922520

4 May 2012 Precise control of dispersion flatness in silicon nitride waveguides by cladding refractive index engineering

D. Bodenmüller, J. M. Chavez Boggio, H. N. J. Fernando, R. Haynes, M. M. Roth

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8429, Optical Modelling and Design II; 84290V (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.922520
Event: SPIE Photonics Europe, 2012, Brussels, Belgium

Abstract

A technique for flattening the chromatic dispersion in silicon nitride waveguides with silica cladding is proposed and numerically investigated. By modifying the transversal dimensions of the silicon nitride core and by adding several cladding layers with appropriate refractive indices and thicknesses, we demonstrate dispersion flattening over large spectral bandwidths in the near infrared. We analyze several cladding refractive index profiles that could be realistically fabricated by using existing materials and doping procedures. We show that cladding engineering allows for much more dispersion control (and flattening) in comparison with optimizing only the core transversal dimensions. For the latter case it is demonstrated that while the zero dispersion wavelength can be shifted to a great extent, the effect of the cross-section adjustment in the flatness is very limited. In sharp contrast, by adding two cladding layers and decreased refractive index values, the dispersion ripple can be strongly reduced. By further adding one more layer and by adjusting their refractive indices it is possible to obtain nearly constant chromatic dispersion (only +/- 3 ps/nm-km variation) over the spectral region from 1.8 to 2.4 microns. In our calculations, the analyzed change in the silica or silicon nitride refractive index is up to +/-3%. Our technique should open new avenues for the demonstration of high-performance nonlinear devices on a chip. Furthermore highly dispersive integrated photonic components can be envisaged for slow light applications and integrated photonics spectrographs.

Citation Download Citation

D. Bodenmüller, J. M. Chavez Boggio, H. N. J. Fernando, R. Haynes, and M. M. Roth "Precise control of dispersion flatness in silicon nitride waveguides by cladding refractive index engineering", Proc. SPIE 8429, Optical Modelling and Design II, 84290V (4 May 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.922520

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