Two Structural Designs of Broadband, Low-Loss, and Compact TM Magneto-Optical Isolator Based on GaAs-on-Insulator

Abstract

Integrated optical isolators are important building blocks for photonic integrated chips. Despite significant advances in isolators integrated on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platforms, integrated isolators on GaAs-on-insulator platforms are rarely reported. In this paper, two structural designs of optical isolators based on the TM basic mode of GaAs-on-insulator are proposed. The non-reciprocal phase shift (NRPS) of GaAs/Ce:YIG waveguides with different geometric structures are calculated using numerical simulation. The isolators achieve 35 dB isolation bandwidths greater than 53.5 nm and 70 nm at 1550 nm, with total insertion losses of 2.59 dB and 2.25 dB, respectively. A multi-mode interferometric (MMI) coupler suitable for these two structures is proposed. In addition, suitable manufacturing processes are discussed based on the simulated process tolerances.

Keywords

• optical isolator
• non-reciprocal phase shift
• magneto-optical
• Mach–Zehnder interferometer
• GaAs-on-insulator
• multi-mode interferometric coupler