Abstract

The fabrication of optical add–drop multiplexers in fused silica is demonstrated, for the first time to our knowledge, using the femtosecond laser direct writing technique. To achieve this, a Mach–Zehnder interferometer configuration was used for the signal routing by the implementation of 3-dB directional couplers, along with Bragg grating waveguides for wavelength selectivity. The fabrication of all individual devices required was optimized. The behavior of the fabricated add–drop multiplexer was characterized at around 1550 nm, where a 3-dB bandwidth of 0.19 ± 0.01 nm was obtained along with an intrachannel and adjacent interchannel crosstalk of –30 and –20 dB at ${\rm{\Delta \lambda \,= \,\,\pm \,{\text{0.75 nm}}}}$ , respectively. This study shows that such complex devices can be manufactured by femtosecond laser direct writing, with future improvements being discussed.

© 2017 IEEE

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