Abstract

An ultra-compact multimode interference (MMI) coupler with a length ${\sim} {\hbox {10}}\ \mu$m for dense photonic integration is designed by parallel particle swarm optimization (PSO) with parallel finite-difference time-domain (FDTD). The MMI coupler uses a strongly-guiding deep-etched InP platform and the modal analysis of this strongly-guiding deep-etched InP waveguide gives the cross section of the single-mode nanophotonic waveguide, the geometry of the multimode interference region, and the etched-depth requirement. An efficient global optimizer combining parallel PSO algorithm and parallel FDTD is developed, which speedups the optimization and enables automatic nanophotonic design. Two 2$\,\times\,$2 multimode interference couplers with a respective coupling ratio of 50%:50% and 90%:10% are designed as numerical examples using the global optimizer developed and the optimization result shows a ultra-compact multimode interference coupler with a length of ${\sim} {\hbox {10}}\ \mu$m can be achieved with a low excess loss, which is numerically verified by a parallel three-dimensional FDTD.

© 2010 IEEE

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