A Novel Hybrid Coupler Based on Antiresonant Reflecting Optical Waveguides

Abstract—A novel hybrid coupler based on the antiresonant re-flecting optical waveguides (ARROW’s) is presented. This device consists of two parallel antiresonant reflecting optical waveguides with a tapered outermost cladding layer. Such a device can provide advantageous features of low radiation loss, low crosstalk at the output end, and compatible core dimensions and indexes with single-mode optical fibers. The staircase approximation and the eigenmode expansion analysis are used to analyze and optimize this device. In our design on a Si-substrate, radiation losses below 0.38 dB and extinction ratios below 20 dB for two waveguide channels are achieved. The beam propagation method (BPM) is also used to verify our design and analysis results. Index Terms—Optical beam splitting, optical coupling, optical power dividers/combiners, optical resonance, optical waveguides. I