Near-infrared Y-branch polymer splitters realized with compact MMI structures for efficient power splitting

Abstract

Optical splitters are promising photonic devices for next-generation photonic integrated circuits, which enable signal distribution and routing between the different components, facilitating complex optical functionalities on a single chip. This research introduces what we believe is a novel numerical technique for enhancing optical network efficiency by incorporating a taper-based step-index (SI) Y-branch multimode interference (MMI) splitter with organic-inorganic hybrid polymer materials. The proposed device comprises a core width of 5 µm for the input and output waveguides to satisfy the single-mode conditions. We designed and optimized the MMI splitter using the beam propagation method (BPM). The splitter demonstrates the power splitting property with an efficiency of 86%. The excess losses for the MMI splitter are 0.52 dB and 0.50 dB for TE and TM modes, respectively, at 1.55 µm. The polarization dependence loss (PDL) and propagation loss (PL) are 0.015 dB and 0.00019 dB/µm, respectively.