Research Article Vol. 57, No.

10 / 1 April 2018 / Applied Optics 2715

All-optical tunable power splitter based on a

surface plasmonic two-mode interference
waveguide
NILIMA GOGOI1,* AND PARTHA PRATIM SAHU2
1
Department of Physics, Duliajan College, Duliajan-786602, Assam, India
2
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Tezpur University, Tezpur-784028, Assam, India
*Corresponding author: nilima0108@gmail.com

Received 5 February 2018; revised 2 March 2018; accepted 3 March 2018; posted 5 March 2018 (Doc. ID 322613); published 30 March 2018

In this paper, we have introduced a surface plasmonic two-mode interference (SPTMI) coupler having a silicon
core, GaAsInP side cladding, and silver top and bottom cladding as an optical power splitter. A wide range of
tunability from the 50∶50 splitting ratio to 1∶99 is achieved by refractive index modulation of the GaAsInP
cladding with application of varying optical pulse power. The coupling length of the SPTMI-based splitter is
∼11.5 times less than that of a previously reported optical power splitter based on multimode waveguide holo-
grams. The proposed optical power splitter has potential in development of large-scale integrated circuits due to
its compactness and high fabrication tolerance. © 2018 Optical Society of America
OCIS codes: (250.5403) Plasmonics; (250.4745) Optical processing devices.

https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.57.002715

1. INTRODUCTION In this paper, we have proposed a compact all-optical power

A compact optical power splitter is one of the key components of
an integrated optical processor due to the requirements of power
distribution among its building blocks. The dynamical redistrib-
ution and efficient management of optical power requires the tun-
ability of power splitters. In this direction, a two-mode
interference (TMI) coupler [1] is a preferred candidate as basic
component of an integrated optical processor due to its many
desirable properties such as compactness, large fabrication toler-
ance, and polarization insensitiveness compared to other compo-
nents [2–4]. All-optical tunability of the splitting ratio has
become essential for faster operation of these devices. During
the last decade, there has been considerable progress in the re-
search for optical power splitter devices. In this direction, many
works have been reported for optical power splitter such as multi-
mode interference (MMI) couplers [5–8], microelectromechan-
ical system [9], mode converters [10], branching waveguides with
microprisms [11], surface plasmonic waveguide [12–17], etc. But
most of these devices have larger device dimensions having a
manual tuning or fixed splitting ratio. In an existing splitter based
on a MMI coupler [7] and surface plasmon polariton (SPP)-based
waveguide [15], only some discrete values of splitting ratio are
obtained, whereas an optical power splitter based on a branching
waveguide offers manual tuning only in a narrow range [11]. Very
recently, miniaturization has been achieved by the use of SPP
waveguide structure [12,14,15], but the power splitting ratio
is changed with the variation of the device parameters.
splitter based on a 1 × 2 surface plasmonic two-mode interfer-
ence (SPTMI) coupler. The splitting ratio of the proposed
power splitter depends on the energy of the optical pulse ap-
plied at the GaAsInP cladding of the SPTMI waveguide cou-
pler. By increasing the energy of the applied optical pulse, a
wide tuning range of the power splitting ratio can be achieved
in the proposed device.
2. DEVICE CONCEPT
Figure 1 shows SPTMI coupler [18–20] consisting of a two-
mode interference region of width 2w and thickness t with
one single mode input access waveguide and two single mode
output access waveguides having core of width w and same
thickness t. The device is made up of a silicon core, silver
in the top and bottom cladding, and GaAsInP in the left
and right cladding. In the figure, the refractive index of the
silicon core is n1
3.5, whereas the refractive index of the
top and bottom silver is nm
0.394  8.2j for an operating
wavelength of λ
1.33 μm. The refractive index of GaAsInP
in the left- and right-side cladding shows nonlinear change with
applied optical pulse of energy E, and is written as [19,21]
n2 E
n2 0  Δn2 E; (1)
where n2 0 and n2 E are the refractive indices of GaAsInP
cladding before and after application of optical pulse of energy
E. Δn2 E is the cladding refractive index change due to

1559-128X/18/102715-05 Journal © 2018 Optical Society of America

 2716 Vol. 57, No. 10 / 1 April 2018 / Applied Optics Research Article

application of optical pulse of energy E and can be expressed as where

[19,21] X
1
nnl E H 3 x; L; E
c T3;i H i x exp jfβr0 n2 E
Δn2 E
; (2) i
0
1.605AC T P
− βri n2 EgL
where nnl is the nonlinear refractive index coefficient of 
GaAsInP, and nnl
−2 × 10−3 μm2 W −1 [21]. T P is the full exp−βim exp−jβr0 n2 EL
× i n2 EL
width at half-maximum power of the pulse. AC is the effective
area of the GaAsInP cladding (on which the optical pulse of X
1
energy E and pulse width T P are applied) and is given by H 4 x  w; L; E
c T4;i H i x  w
AC
2W C t, where W C is the cladding width at the left i
0
and right side. × exp jfβr0 n2 E − βri n2 EgL
When light is incident through input access waveguide-1, 
SPP fundamental and first-order modes are excited in the × exp−βi n2 EL exp−jβr0 n2 EL:
im
metal-insulator-metal (MIM) TMI region. The input power
P 1 is written as (5)
P 1
jH 1 x; 0j2 ; (3) The c T3;i and c T4;i are the coefficients of the field contribution
P1 T of the ith mode for third and fourth waveguide, respectively,
where H 1 x; 0
i
0 bi H i x is the input field. H i x is
the mode field of the ith excited mode of the TMI region at evaluated by using a simple model-based on SPP sinusoidal
z
0. The bi T is the ith SPP mode field excitation coefficient modes [22]. The βo n2 E and β1 n2 E are the propagation
of the SPTMI coupler and can be estimated from Fourier series constants of fundamental and first-order modes depending on
coefficients of odd periodic functions. The mode fields at out- applied optical pulse energy and are expressed as
put waveguide-3 and waveguide-4 at z
L are assumed to be βo n2 E
βro n2 E  jβim
o n2 E
single mode and contributed by excited modes. The power
β1 n2 E
βr1 n2 E  jβim
1 n2 E; (6)
transferred to output access waveguide-3 and waveguide-4 as
a function of applied optical pulse of energy E is written as [19] where superscripts “r” and “im” represent real and imaginary
parts, respectively. The phase difference between the excited
P 3 jH 3 x; L; Ej2

fundamental and first-order modes with the application of
P1 jH 1 x; 0j2 optical pulse of energy E is written as [19]
P 4 jH 4 x  w; L; Ej2 ΔΦT E
βro n2 E − βr1 n2 EL

; (4)
P1 jH 1 x; 0j2

βro n2 0 − βr1 n2 0L
2πL
 fΔneff
1;r E − Δn0;r Eg;
eff
(7)
λ
where βro n2 0 and βr1 n2 0 are real parts of propagation
constants for fundamental and first-order modes obtained with-
out launching optical pulse into GaAsInP cladding. The second
term in Eq. (7) is phase change ΔΦE due to the application
of optical pulse of energy E. The Δneff1;r E and Δn0;r E are the
eff

effective real refractive index change of the first-order and

fundamental mode, respectively, written as
1;r E
n1;r 0 − n1;r E
Δneff eff eff

0;r E
n0;r 0 − n0;r E;

Δneff eff eff
(8)
where 0;r 0
neff and neff
0;r Eare the effective real refractive indices
for the fundamental mode obtained before and after launching
of the optical pulse of energy E, whereas neff 1;r 0 and n1;r E are
eff

effective real refractive indices for the first-order mode obtained

before and after launching of optical pulse of energy E.
The coupling length required to get an additional phase shift
of π due to application of optical pulse of energy E
(ΔΦE
π) is written as
λ
Fig. 1. Schematic view of optically controlled surface plasmonic LC
: (9)
2fΔneff
1;r E − Δneff
0;r Eg
two-mode interference device with core width 2w, thickness t, and
coupling length L. (a) Top view. (b) Cross-sectional view of the wave- Figure 2 shows variation of the real part of the propagation
guide along AA/. constant versus core width (W T ) obtained by using the
 Research Article
Fig. 2. Variation of the real part of propagation constant βi of vari-
ous modes versus core width W T for n1
3.5, nm
0.394  8.2j,
n2 0
3.17, λ
1.33 μm, and t
5.0 μm.
effective index method for n1
3.5 (silicon), n2 0
3.17
(GaAsInP), nm
0.394  8.2j (silver), λ
1.33 μm, and
core thickness t
5.0 μm, whereas Fig. 3 shows the variation
of the imaginary part of the propagation constant with a core
width also obtained by using the effective index method con-
sidering the same values of parameters. It is seen from both the
figures that with increase in core width W T , higher-order
modes start appearing along with the fundamental mode.
The first-order mode appears at W T
0.45 μm, the
second-order mode appears at W T
0.88 μm, and so on.
For two-mode propagation in the waveguide core, the width
is chosen as W T
2w
0.48 μm.
The propagation length for SPP modes is defined as the
length over which the power in the direction of propagation
decays to 1/e of incident power (due to material loss) and is
written as LP;i
1∕2βim i E where i
0; 1 for different
modes [23]. Figure 4 shows the dependence of the propagation
length of the fundamental and first-order modes versus core
Fig. 3. Variation of imaginary part of propagation constant βi
of various modes versus core width W T for n1
3.5, nm

0.394  8.2j, n2 0
3.17, λ
1.33 μm, and t
5.0 μm.
Vol. 57, No. 10 / 1 April 2018 / Applied Optics 2717
Fig. 4. Propagation length of fundamental and first-order
modes versus core thickness for n1
3.5, n2 0
3.17,
nm
0.394  8.2j, λ
1.33 μm, and W T
0.48 μm. In the inset,
coupling length versus core thickness is shown.
thickness for n1
3.5, n2 0
3.17, nm
0.394  8.2j,
λ
1.33 μm, and W T
2w
0.48 μm. It is observed that
for a fixed core width, the number of SPP modes propagating in
the coupler remains the same irrespective of the increase in core
thickness. In other words, the propagation of various-order SPP
modes is independent of the core thickness [19]. On the other
hand, propagation length of various modes increases as the core
thickness t increases. The inset in the figure shows the depend-
ence of the coupling length (LC ) on the core thickness. It is seen
that the coupling length increases rapidly with increase of core
thickness and saturates at t ∼ 3 μm. It is also evident from
Fig. 4 that for t ≥ 4.5 μm, the propagation length becomes
larger than the corresponding value of the coupling length.
Thus, to ensure more output power at the end of the coupling
region, the core thickness is chosen to be t
5.0 μm.
Figure 5 shows normalized coupling power versus coupling
length (where P 4 ∕P 1
cross state power and P 3 ∕P 1
bar
state power) for W T
0.48 μm, t
5.0 μm, n1
3.5,
n2 0
3.17, nm
0.394  8.2j, and λ
1.33 μm ob-
tained by using Eqs. (4) and (5). In this figure, we have varied
L up to 98 μm, which is less than the propagation length to
Fig. 5. Normalized cross state power (P 4 ∕P 1 ) and bar state power
(P 3 ∕P 1 ) versus length of coupling region L for SPTMI coupler with
n1
3.5, n2 0
3.17, nm
0.394  8.2j, W T
0.48 μm,
t
5.0 μm, and λ
1.33 μm.
 2718 Vol. 57, No. 10 / 1 April 2018 / Applied Optics
obtain more power at the output of the coupler. It is seen that at
L
2.35; 8.35; 14.35; 20.35; …; 86.35, and 92.35 μm, all the
power in the two-mode coupling region is coupled to the wave-
guide-4 (this corresponds to the cross-state coupling of the de-
vice). The device also shows bar state coupling (where, all the
power in the two-mode coupling region is coupled to
the waveguide-3) at coupling length L
5.35; 11.35;
17.35; 23.35; …; 89.35, and 95.35 μm whereas the 3-dB
coupling (i.e., 50∶50 splitting ratio) is obtained at L

0.85; 3.85; 6.85; 9.85; …:; 90.85; 93.85, and 96.85 μm. Thus,
it is evident that, as the coupling length L increases, cross state
and bar state coupling and 3-dB coupling are obtained, alter-
natively. For tuning of coupling power, we have applied optical
pulse on GaAsInP cladding region without variation of
coupling length as discussed later in the paper.
3. TUNING OF OPTICAL POWER SPLITTING
RATIO
When an optical pulse of energy E is applied on GaAsInP
cladding, there is a decrease in refractive index n2 E of
GaAsInP cladding which leads to an additional phase change
ΔΦ(E) between the two SPP modes propagating in the device
due to which the power splitting ratio varies from its original
value when no optical pulse is applied. Figure 6 shows power
splitting ratio versus optical pulse energy applied at GaAsInP
cladding for W T
0.48 μm, t
5.0 μm, L
93.85 μm,
n1
3.5, n2 0
3.17, nm
0.394  8.2j, and λ

1.33 μm for effecting cladding area AC
2.0 μm2 ,
2.5 μm2 , and 3.0 μm2 . When no optical pulse is applied in
GaAsInP cladding of the SPTMI waveguide coupler
(E
0), power in the two-mode coupling region is transferred
equally to the output access waveguide-3 and waveguide-4
(P 4 ∕P 3
1) performing 3-dB power splitting (i.e., 50∶50
power splitting ratio). When an optical pulse is applied at
Fig. 6. Power splitting ratio versus optical pulse energy of the 1 × 2
SPTMI coupler-based 3-dB power splitter with W T
0.48 μm,
t
5.0 μm, L
93.85 μm, n1
3.5, n2 0
3.17, nm

0.394  8.2j, and λ
1.33 μm and effective cladding area
AC
2.0, 2.5, and 3.0 μm2 . In the inset, optical pulse energy E P
for various 3 dB coupling lengths are shown.
Research Article
the GaAsInP cladding, power transferred to output access
waveguide-3 (P 3 ∕P 1 ) increases and power transferred to output
access waveguide-4 (P 4 ∕P 1 ) decreases. The bar state coupling
(1:99 splitting ratio) is obtained for GaAsInP cladding area
AC
2.0 μm2 , 2.5 μm2 , and 3.0 μm2 with application of op-
tical pulse energy of E P
8 pJ, 10 pJ, and 12 pJ, respectively.
For all values of AC , the splitting ratio increases with increase of
optical pulse energy from bar state coupling points as shown in
the figure. We have chosen AC
2.0 μm2 for compactness of
coupling area and lower values of tuning optical pulse energy.
The inset in the figure shows the energy of optical pulse re-
quired to change the 3-dB coupling state to bar state coupling
(E P ) for various 3-dB coupling lengths. It is seen that optical
pulse energy required to change 3-dB coupling state to bar
state coupling for L
90.85 μm (E P ∼ 8.34 pJ) is higher than
that for L
93.85 μm (E P ∼ 8 pJ) and L
96.85 μm
(E P ∼ 7.8 pJ). Further, the coupling length of L
96.85 μm
is more than the propagation length. Thus, to have low optical
pulse energy required for tuning from the 3-dB splitting to bar
state coupling as well as lower propagation loss, we have chosen
L
93.85 μm as the coupling length, which is about ∼11.5
times less than that for a previously reported variable optical
power splitter based on MMI couplers with multimode
waveguide holograms [5]. Considering an access waveguide
S-bending loss of ∼0.1 dB [19] and taking the bending radius
(R) of 39 μm and bending height (H T ) of 4 μm, the transition
length p (horizontal length of access waveguides) is estimated as
LT
4H T R ≈ 24.97 μm. Total length 
2LT  L of
the proposed device is obtained as ∼143.79 μm, which is about
∼69.5 times less than that for a previously reported variable
optical power splitter based on a micro-electro mechanical sys-
tem [9] and about ∼1.4 times more compact than a variable
optical power splitter based on mode converter [10] reported
previously.
As it is difficult to fabricate a device with exact design
parameters, it is required to study the performance degradation
of the device with small unwanted variations in the device
Fig. 7. Power transmission versus width tolerance of the 1 × 2
SPTMI coupler based 3-dB power splitter for W T
0.48 μm,
t
5.0 μm, L
93.85 μm, AC
2.0 μm2 , n1
3.5, n2 0

3.17, nm
0.394  8.2j, and λ
1.33 μm, and a previously
reported SPP-based device (dotted line).
 Research Article
parameters. We have studied the effect of fabrication tolerances
of the core width (δw) of the proposed 3-dB optical power
splitter based on a SPTMI coupler, on power transmission in
decibels (dB) 
10 log10 P 3  P 4 ∕P 1  as shown in Fig. 7
with W T
0.48 μm, t
5.0 μm, L
93.85 μm, n1
3.5,
n2 0
3.17, nm
0.394  8.2j, and λ
1.33 μm. The
figure also shows the power transmission in dB versus core
width tolerance (δw) for a previously reported 3-dB optical
power splitter based on MMI coupling in a silicon hybrid plas-
monic waveguide [12]. It is seen from the figure that the power
transmitted in the proposed optical power splitter
(∼ − 0.347 dB) is about 1.18 times higher than the transmis-
sion in the previously reported device (∼ − 0.41 dB) [12].
Moreover, the rate of fluctuation of power transmission with
respect to core width tolerance (δw) for the SPTMI-
coupler-based splitter is less than that of the previously reported
optical power splitter.
4. CONCLUSION
In this paper, the surface plasmonic two-mode interference
(SPTMI) coupler has been introduced as an optically tunable
3-dB power splitter. Using refractive index modulation of
GaAsInP cladding by applied optical pulse, a phase change
of ΔΦE is obtained between the excited SPP modes propa-
gating through the silicon core. By increasing the energy of the
applied optical pulse from 0 to 8 pJ, a wide range of tunability
of the proposed power splitter is achieved. The length of the
coupling region (L
93.85 μm) of the proposed device is
about ∼11.5 times less than that of a previously reported var-
iable optical power splitter based on MMI couplers with multi-
mode waveguide holograms [5]. Total length of the proposed
device is obtained as ∼143.79 μm which is about ∼69.5 times
less than a previously reported variable optical power splitter
based on micro-electro mechanical system [9] and about
∼1.4 times compact than a variable optical power splitter based
on a mode converter [10] reported previously. Due to these
superior performances and compact size, the proposed optical
power splitter has potential in development of large-scale
integrated optical circuits.
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