Photonics (Jun 2024)

Low-Power-Consumption and Broadband 16-Channel Variable Optical Attenuator Array Based on Polymer/Silica Hybrid Waveguide

  • Shengyuan Zhang,
  • Yuexin Yin,
  • Zihao Wang,
  • Yafan Li,
  • Yuan Zhang,
  • Mengke Yao,
  • Daming Zhang,
  • Ye Li

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics11060547
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 6
p. 547

Abstract

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A variable optical attenuator (VOA) is a crucial component for optical communication, especially for a variable multiplexer (VMUX) and reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer (ROADM). With the capacity increasing dramatically, a large-port-count and low-power-consumption VOA array is urgent for an on-chip system. In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate a 16-channel VOA array based on a polymer/silica hybrid waveguide. The proposed array is able to work over C and L bands. The VOA array shows an average attenuation larger than 14.38 dB with a low power consumption of 15.53 mW. The low power consumption makes it possible to integrate silica-based passive devices with a large port count on-chip.

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