Abstract

Arrayed-waveguide gratings (AWGs) represent essential components for high-capacity dense wavelength-division multiplexed (DWDM) systems.AWGs with excellent optical properties have been realized on silica-on-silicon.¹ Recently, AWGs based on polymeric waveguides have been gaining increasing attention because polymer devices are believed to be producible at lower cost than their conventional silica-based counterparts and because of their efficient, controllable wavelength tunability. Polymeric AWGs have been reported recently featuring a wide tuning range of >30 nm and low power consumption owing to the large thermo-optic (TO) coefficient of the order of 10^–4/K and the low thermal conductivity of the order of 10^–1 W/m K of polymeric materials.² On the one hand, wavelength tunability of AWGs is a highly desirable feature for various specific applications. On the other hand, the temperature dependence of the channel wavelength of AWGs is a serious problem for the practical use in DWDM systems. For stabilizing the channel wavelengths, a temperature control unit with a heater or a Peltier cooler is needed leading to an expensive system’s control overhead. Hence, there is an urgent need to investigate temperature insensitive, or passively athermal AWGs.

© 2002 Optical Society of America