Design of planar coupling waveguide for diffractive optical element (DOE)

Abstract

Nowadays, optical splitter is one of the widely used devices in optical communication system. Its main application is for power splitter and channel separation in optical communication system, such as FTTC or FTTI network etc. In compared with traditional fiber array type of splitters, one major advantage of using Diffractive Optical Element (DOE) for power splitter is its ability to easily generate 2-dimension output light spots. As a result, the splitter size can be greatly reduced. In fact, we can consider that it is novel application in using DOE to realize a high-port count optical splitter. However, to make such design useful in practice, we must address the coupling issues between the DOE and the fibers. In this project, a novel coupling method for DOE planar waveguide structure is proposed, designed and fabricated. Preliminary experimental results is given and discussed.