Abstract
Intermodal dispersion between the supermodes of a directional coupler may induce undesirable pulse breakup in a sufficiently large device. When this happens the device will no longer exchange power between its arms, and the extinction ratio is completely canceled. It is shown that, by carefully designing the coupling area of the directional coupler, one may compensate for intermodal dispersion. The compensating device should accomplish three basic requirements: inverse intermodal dispersion, balanced coupling of each supermode, and maximum power transfer while preserving the sign of the slope of the coupling coefficient with frequency for multiplexing–demultiplexing applications. This structure is designed and optimized with a genetic algorithm.
© 2005 Optical Society of America
Full Article | PDF ArticleMore Like This
Chii-Chang Chen, Chih-Yu Chen, Wen-Kai Wang, Fan-Hsiu Huang, Cheng-Kuo Lin, Wei-Yu Chiu, and Yi-Jen Chan
Opt. Express 13(1) 38-43 (2005)
Daisuke Mori, Shousaku Kubo, Hirokazu Sasaki, and Toshihiko Baba
Opt. Express 15(9) 5264-5270 (2007)
Morten Thorhauge, Lars H. Frandsen, and Peter I. Borel
Opt. Lett. 28(17) 1525-1527 (2003)