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Reduction of chromatic dispersion due to

coupling for synchronized-router-based flat-


passband filter using multiple-input arrayed
waveguide grating
Koichi Maru* and Yusaku Fujii
Department of Electronic Engineering, Gunma University, 1-5-1 Tenjin-cho, Kiryu, Gunma 376-8515, Japan
*maru@el.gunma-u.ac.jp

Abstract: An approach to reducing the chromatic dispersion due to


coupling between input waveguides before the input slab for a
synchronized-router-based flat-passband filter using a multiple-input
arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) is proposed. The proposed method uses
phase compensation at the waveguide array of the AWG by correction of
waveguide lengths. The characteristics of the flat-passband filter that
consists of a multiple-input AWG combined with cascaded Mach-Zehnder
interferometers (MZIs) are simulated using a theoretical model of the
multiple-input AWG based on Fourier optics and the coupled-mode theory.
The simulation result reveals that the chromatic dispersion within the
passband can be significantly reduced by using phase compensation and
additional dummy waveguides at the input just before the slab.
©2009 Optical Society of America
OCIS codes: (130.0130) Integrated optics; (130.7408) Wavelength filtering devices; (130.2755)
Glass waveguides; (230.7390) Waveguides, planar; (080.1238) Array waveguide devices.

References and links


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1. Introduction
In metropolitan and access area wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) networks,
multi/demultiplexers should have a flat and wide spectral response to allow the concatenation
of many filters. Various techniques have been proposed to flatten the passband of
multi/demultiplexers [1–13] in the last decade. The techniques can be basically divided in two
types, i.e. obtaining a rectangular focusing field profile or combining two synchronized
routers. The latter type using a combination of two synchronized routers [4,5,8–13] is a
promising approach to obtain low-loss and wide-passband characteristics. Synchronized-
router-based filters using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) or a three-arm interferometer
for the input of an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) have been reported [8,12,13] to obtain
low-loss and wide-passband in a small chip. To analyze the performance of synchronized
routers efficiently and comprehensively, we have developed a theoretical model of a multiple-
input AWG [14,15] by extending the model based on Fourier optics [16–18]. We have also
demonstrated a flat-passband multi/demultiplexer that consists of a multiple-input AWG
combined with a cascaded MZI structure as an input router with steep passband and small
intrinsic loss [19,20].
Meanwhile, small chromatic dispersion as well as low-loss and wide-passband is desirable
for typical filter applications, especially for high bit-rate transmission systems. We found that

#118162 - $15.00 USD Received 5 Oct 2009; revised 6 Nov 2009; accepted 17 Nov 2009; published 20 Nov 2009
(C) 2009 OSA 23 November 2009 / Vol. 17, No. 24 / OPTICS EXPRESS 22261
if the input waveguides just before the input slab have narrower core and gap widths, then this
is better in terms of insertion loss [14,19]. However, narrower core and gap widths lead to
larger coupling between the input waveguides, which can affect the amplitude and phase
characteristics of the circuit. The coupling can cause the increase of chromatic dispersion due
to the phase shift in coupled light.
In this paper, we propose an approach to reducing the chromatic dispersion of a
synchronized-router-based flat-passband filter using a multiple-input AWG by phase
compensation at the waveguide array of the AWG. Doerr et al. [21] have reported the
improvement of the port-to-port passband shape for the dynamic gain equalizer by
appropriately changing the length of waveguides in the array. We apply the similar method to
reducing the chromatic dispersion due to coupling between input waveguides before the input
slab for flat-passband filter using a multiple-input AWG. In this paper, the principle of the
phase compensation for the optical circuit consisting of a multiple-input AWG combined with
a cascaded MZI structure is described and its characteristics are simulated using a theoretical
model of the multiple-input AWG based on Fourier optics and the coupled-mode theory.
2. Principle
2.1 Structure
The optical circuit of a flat-passband filter that consists of a multiple-input AWG combined
with a cascaded MZI structure is shown in Fig. 1. It consists of a multiple-input AWG with a
free spectral range (FSR) of ∆fFSR and a cascaded MZI structure [22–24] connected to the
AWG input waveguides. The multiple-input AWG has M input waveguides and a waveguide
array consisting of 2I + 1 waveguides. Here, the length of the waveguides in the waveguide
array is slightly changed for phase compensation from the normal design.
Cascaded MZIs Multiple-input AWG

Input waveguides
before input slab Input slab Waveguide
1st-stage MZI 2nd-stage MZIs array
f2, f4 f4 fa(x)
f1,…, f4
f2
f3
f1, f3 i=-I
f1 d
x i=I
Win
g uoin(x-xm)

y fb(y)
∆x

Output slab
uout(y-yn)
Output waveguides
Fig. 1. Optical circuit of flat-passband filter consisting of multiple-input AWG combined with
cascaded MZI structure.

Reflecting the results in the previous report [14,15], we chose two stages of cascaded
MZIs (i.e., the number of input waveguides before the slab M = 4) to achieve a small chip size
as well as sufficient flatness. The two slabs in the AWG have the same focal length z. The
waveguides in the array are connected to the edges of the two slabs with a waveguide interval
of d. The signals from a first-stage MZI are demultiplexed by second-stage MZIs by setting
the FSR of the second-stage MZIs, ∆fMZI, to twice that of the first-stage one. The signals with
four equally spaced frequencies f1, …, f4 within one FSR of the second-stage MZIs are first
divided by the first-stage MZI between the two groups f1, f3 and f2, f4, and next divided by the
second-stage MZIs into individual signals. The lower port of the upper second-stage MZI and

#118162 - $15.00 USD Received 5 Oct 2009; revised 6 Nov 2009; accepted 17 Nov 2009; published 20 Nov 2009
(C) 2009 OSA 23 November 2009 / Vol. 17, No. 24 / OPTICS EXPRESS 22262
the upper port of the lower second-stage MZI should cross each other so that the signals f1, …,
f4 are spatially arranged in this order at the input side of the AWG. To obtain an appropriate
demultiplexing function, the channel spacing of the AWG should be the same value as the
FSR of the final-stage MZIs, i.e., to ∆fMZI.
2.2 Phase compensation
We derive a theoretical model of the flat-passband filter with phase compensation for low
chromatic dispersion based on the model of the multiple-input AWG in our previous work
[14].
Suppose there is uniform coupling to only adjacent input waveguides and the relative
amplitude of coupled light is δ. The field distribution at the edge of the input slab illuminated
by the m-th output of the cascaded MZI structure is expressed as
uin ( x − xm ) = − jδ uino ( x − xm + ∆x) + χ uino ( x − xm ) − jδ uino ( x − xm − ∆x), (1)
where uoin(x) is the mode field without coupling, xm is the position of the m-th input
waveguide along the edge of the input slab, ∆x is the constant interval between two adjacent
input waveguides, and χ is the relative amplitude of path-through light.
Here, the length of the i-th waveguide ( − I ≤ i ≤ I ) in the waveguide array is slightly
changed from the normal design of the AWG by li for phase compensation as
Li = L0 − i ∆L + li , (2)
where ∆L is the constant difference in length between adjacent waveguides in the array and L0
is the length of the 0th waveguide without phase compensation. The phase delay of the i-th
waveguide for phase compensation, θi, is expressed as
li
θi = 2π na , (3)
λ0
where na is the effective refractive index of the waveguides in the array and λ0 is the central
wavelength. Here, the contribution of the phase compensation Θ(y) is defined as
∞ y
j 2π i
Θ( y ) = ∑e
i =−∞
− jθi
e ∆y
, (4)

where ∆y is defined as ∆y = λ0z/(nsd) and ns is the effective refractive index of the slab
waveguide.
Based on our previous work [14], the transfer function of the multiple-input AWG for the
n-th output waveguide located at yn along the edge of the output slab, t(yn; f), is derived as the
convolution between the transfer function without phase compensation and the contribution of
the phase compensation Θ(y) as

t ( yn ; f ) ≅ ∆y 2 f b ( yn ) uin (− yn ) ⊗ Θ( yn ) ⊗ uout
*
(− yn ) ⊗ Eo ( yn ; f )  , (5)

and
M −1
Eo ( y; f ) = ∑f
m=0
a ( xm ) E ( xm ; f ) D2 I +1 ( f
∆f FSR
+
xm + y
∆y ), (6)

where DN(x) is the Dirichlet kernel DN(x) = sin(Nπx)/sin(πx) [25], E(xm; f) is the amplitude as a
function of the optical frequency f for the m-th input waveguide connected at the position xm
along the edge of the input slab, uout(y) is the mode field function of the output waveguide at
the interface to the output slab, and fa(x) and fb(y) are the images of the input-side and output-
side mode field functions of a single waveguide in an array produced on the input and output

#118162 - $15.00 USD Received 5 Oct 2009; revised 6 Nov 2009; accepted 17 Nov 2009; published 20 Nov 2009
(C) 2009 OSA 23 November 2009 / Vol. 17, No. 24 / OPTICS EXPRESS 22263
edges of the slabs. g1 ( y ) ⊗ g 2 ( y ) represents the convolution of periodical functions g1(y) and
g2(y) with a period of ∆y, i.e.,
1 ∆y 2
∆y ∫−∆y 2
g1 ( y ) ⊗ g 2 ( y ) = g1 (τ ) g 2 ( y − τ )dτ . (7)

When the mode field function, uin(y), is sufficiently narrow so that the energy is substantially
limited over the interval of the convolution, -∆y/2 < y < ∆y/2, the first convolution of the right
hand in Eq. (5) is reduced to
y
1 ∞ j 2π i
uin (− yn ) ⊗ Θ( yn ) ≅ ∑
∆y i =−∞
U in (id )e − jθi e ∆y , (8)

where Uin(id) is the Fourier transform of uin(x), i.e.,


kidx
∞ j
U in (id ) = ∫ uin ( x ) e z
dx. (9)
−∞

where k is the wave number defined as k = 2πns/λ0. Using Eq. (1), when there is a coupling to
adjacent input waveguides, Uin(id) is reduced to

  2δ cos 2π i ∆∆xy ( )   ,
( )
U in (id ) = U ino (id ) χ 2 + 4δ 2 cos 2 2π i ∆∆xy exp − j tan −1 
 χ
 (10)

  
where U0in(id) is the Fourier transform of uoin(x). From Eq. (10), the distortion in phase delay
due to the coupling is regarded as tan−1[2δcos(2πi∆x/∆y)/χ]. Hence, to reduce the chromatic
dispersion due to the coupling, the phase delay for phase compensation should be

θi = − tan −1 
(
 2δ cos 2π i ∆∆yx 
 + θ ′,
) (11)
 χ 
 
where θ’ is the constant. Therefore, to improve chromatic dispersion due to coupling
characterized with the parameters δ and χ, the waveguides in the array should be lengthened
by li so as to give the phase change shown as Eq. (11).
Equation (10) is based on the assumption that all the input waveguides to the input slab
have two adjacent waveguides. It implies that dummy waveguides are needed on both sides of
input waveguides for entire compensation. The characteristics of the structure with dummy
waveguides, as well as those without dummy waveguides, will be discussed in Section 4.
3. Model for coupling before input slab
To simulate coupling at the input waveguides before the input slab, we derive a model that
includes the effect of coupling using the coupled-mode theory [26] based on our previous
work [19].
Let E(xm; f) be the amplitude of the m-th input waveguide ( 0 ≤ m ≤ M − 1 ) from cascaded
MZIs before coupling. E(xm; f) is given by [14,24]
 f x +y 
j ( M −1)π  + 0 n′  + jϕɶ
 ∆f MZI M ∆x 
E ( xm ; f ) =
e
M
DM ( f
∆f MZI
+
x0 + yn′
M ∆x )
+ Mm , (12)

where n’ is the arbitrary output port number and ϕɶ is the constant phase. The amplitude at the
interface to the input slab after coupling is expressed as

#118162 - $15.00 USD Received 5 Oct 2009; revised 6 Nov 2009; accepted 17 Nov 2009; published 20 Nov 2009
(C) 2009 OSA 23 November 2009 / Vol. 17, No. 24 / OPTICS EXPRESS 22264
 E ′( x0 ; f )   E ( x0 ; f ) 
 E ′( x ; f )   
 1  = T  E ( x1 ; f )  , (13)
 ⋮   ⋮ 
   
 E ′( xM −1 ; f )   E ( xM −1 ; f ) 
where T is the M x M transfer matrix of input waveguides between cascaded MZIs and the
input slab including coupling. Here, the uniform coupling between M parallel and identical
waveguides with a length L is considered as a simple model of the coupling before the input
slab. Under this simplification, T is derived from a superposition of supermodes of the M
waveguides [27]. Each individual waveguide is assumed to support only one mode and the
nearest neighbor coupling is taken into account. Letting the propagation constant of each
individual waveguide be β, the coupling coefficient be κ, and the transfer function T = e-jβL[tij]
( 0 ≤ i, j ≤ M − 1 ), the element tij for M = 4 is given as a function of κL by [19]

sin 2 ( π5 ) cos ( 2κ L cos ( π5 ) ) + sin 2 ( 25π ) cos ( 2κ L cos ( 25π ) )  ,


2
t00 = t33 = (14a)
p 

sin 2 ( 25π ) cos ( 2κ L cos ( π5 ) ) + sin 2 ( π5 ) cos ( 2κ L cos ( 25π ) )  ,


2
t11 = t22 = (14b)
p 

sin ( π5 ) sin ( 25π ) sin ( 2κ L cos ( π5 ) ) + sin ( 2κ L cos ( 25π ) )  ,


2
t01 = t10 = t23 = t32 = − j (14c)
p

sin 2 ( 25π ) sin ( 2κ L cos ( π5 ) ) − sin 2 ( π5 ) sin ( 2κ L cos ( 25π ) )  ,


2
t12 = t21 = − j (14d)
p 

sin ( π5 ) sin ( 25π )  cos ( 2κ L cos ( 25π ) ) − cos ( 2κ L cos ( π5 ) )  , (14e)


2
t02 = t20 = t13 = t31 = −
p

sin 2 ( 25π ) sin ( 2κ L cos ( 25π ) ) − sin 2 ( π5 ) sin ( 2κ L cos ( π5 ) )  ,


2
t03 = t30 = j (14f)
p 

where

p = 2 sin 2 ( π5 ) + sin 2 ( 25π )  . (15)

One can see from (14-1) – (14-6) that the phase of coupled light is delayed by π/2 radians as
the light is coupled to the next adjacent waveguide when κL is small. When κL is assumed to
be small enough to satisfy the approximations sin ( 2κ L cos ( 25π ) ) ≅ 2κ L cos ( 25π ) and
cos ( 2κ L cos ( 25π ) ) ≅ 1 , the transfer matrix T can be approximated by

 1 − jκ L 0 0 
 − jκ L 1 − jκ L 0 
T = e− j β L  . (16)
 0 − jκ L 1 − jκ L 
 
 0 0 − jκ L 1 

That is, the relative amplitude coupled to nearest adjacent waveguides tij (|i – j| = 1) is
approximately –jκL. Hence, compared with Eq. (1), phase delay due to the coupling to nearest
adjacent waveguides is compensated when δ ≅ κ L and χ ≅ 1 in Eq. (11).

#118162 - $15.00 USD Received 5 Oct 2009; revised 6 Nov 2009; accepted 17 Nov 2009; published 20 Nov 2009
(C) 2009 OSA 23 November 2009 / Vol. 17, No. 24 / OPTICS EXPRESS 22265
When dummy waveguides are used on both sides of the input waveguides, the amplitude
at the interface to the input slab after coupling is expressed as

 E ′( x−1 ; f ) 
 E ′( x ; f )   E ( x0 ; f ) 
 0   E(x ; f ) 
 ⋮  =T  1 , (17)
   ⋮ 
 E ′( xM −1 ; f )   
 E ′( xM ; f )   E ( xM −1 ; f ) 

where x-1 and xM are the positions of the dummy waveguides along the edge of the input slab.
In this case, the dimension of the transfer matrix T becomes (M + 2) x M. When κL is assumed
to be as small as that in the derivation of Eq. (16), the transfer matrix T for M = 4 with the
dummy waveguides is given by
 − jκ L 0 0 0 
 1 − jκ L 0 0 

 − jκ L 1 − jκ L 0 
T = e− j β L  . (18)
 0 − jκ L 1 − jκ L 
 0 0 − jκ L 1 
 
 0 0 0 − jκ L 

4. Simulation results and discussion


Design parameters for the simulation are summarized in Table 1. We set the simulation
parameters for good performance in terms of flatness, minimum transmittance and crosstalk
from the numerical analysis [14]. Here, 2IP + 1 is defined as the number of waveguides in an
array perfectly occupies one Brillouin zone [28,29] as
∆y
2I P + 1 = . (19)
∆x
For simplicity, we treat only fundamental modes with Gaussian approximation as input and
output modes uoin(y) and uout(y) as
2
 y 
−  
u ( y ) ⊗ uout ( y ) = η e
o
in
 wu 
, (20)
where wu is the spot size and η is the coupling efficiency between uoin(y) and uout(y).
Table 1. Design parameters
Description Parameters
Number of arrayed waveguide 2I + 1 209
Relative number of arrayed waveguides I/IP 1.0
Relative spot size of overlapped input/output mode-field
1.0
function wu/∆x
Channel spacing of AWG (same as ∆fMZI value) 100 GHz

The calculated spectral response and chromatic dispersion are plotted in Fig. 2 for various
κL without phase compensation. When coupling occurs, the chromatic dispersion is no longer
zero and the maximum absolute value within the passband increases as κL increases. Three
valleys in the chromatic dispersion around the frequencies of the transition of light from one
input waveguide to the next (i.e., f/∆fMZI = 0, ± 0.25) are caused by the change in the phase of
the light launched into the input slab due to the dependence of the amplitude of the coupled
light on frequency. The transmittance around the passband also decreases as the coupling
coefficient κL increases.

#118162 - $15.00 USD Received 5 Oct 2009; revised 6 Nov 2009; accepted 17 Nov 2009; published 20 Nov 2009
(C) 2009 OSA 23 November 2009 / Vol. 17, No. 24 / OPTICS EXPRESS 22266
0 50
κL
(a) κL 40 (b) 0

Chromatic dispersion [ps/nm]


0 30 0.2
-10 0.2

Transmittance [dB]
20 0.4
0.4
10
-20 0
-10
-20
-30
-30
-40
-40 -50
-1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 -1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Normalized frequency f/ ∆f MZI Normalized frequency f/ ∆f MZI

Fig. 2. Calculated performance for the structure without phase compensation for various κL. (a)
Spectral response and (b) chromatic dispersion.

We calculated the characteristics with phase compensation. The phase delay for the phase
compensation, calculated from Eq. (11), is plotted in Fig. 3. The peak-to-peak values of the
phase delay of 0.79 and 1.52 rad for κL = 0.2 and 0.4 correspond to the changes in the optical
path lengths of about 0.19 and 0.38 µm at the wavelength of 1.55 µm, respectively. It implies
that the fabrication resolution in optical path length of the order of a few tens of nanometers
would be required. The transmittance and chromatic dispersion of the flat-passband filters
with and without phase compensation for κL = 0.2 and 0.4 are plotted in Figs. 4 and 5. The
chromatic dispersion within the passband can be significantly reduced by using phase
compensation. The chromatic dispersion within the passband of ± 0.35 x ∆fMZI becomes –9.4
to 0.5 ps/nm by using phase compensation, whereas that is –19.7 to 5.4 ps/nm without phase
compensation when κL = 0.2. The chromatic dispersion near the edge of the passband is still
larger than that around the center of the passband. This is because the coupling is
asymmetrical when the light mainly propagates either side of the four input waveguides (i.e.,
the 0th or 3rd waveguide) and it leads to the deviation of the phase distortion from the
compensated values. The amount of chromatic dispersion below 10 ps/nm may be allowable
for some applications such as point-to-point communications with a bit rate below 10 Gb/s.
However, when the filter is used for applications in which many multi/demultiplexers are
cascaded (e.g., optical cross-connect), this amount of chromatic dispersion may be not
allowable, especially, for high bit-rate signals such as 40 Gb/s.
1
Phase delay for compensation θi [rad]

0.8 κL
0.2
0.6 0.4
0.4
0.2
0
-0.2
-0.4
-0.6
-0.8
-1
-120 -80 -40 0 40 80 120
Waveguide number in array i

Fig. 3. Phase delay for phase compensation calculated from Eq. (11).

#118162 - $15.00 USD Received 5 Oct 2009; revised 6 Nov 2009; accepted 17 Nov 2009; published 20 Nov 2009
(C) 2009 OSA 23 November 2009 / Vol. 17, No. 24 / OPTICS EXPRESS 22267
0 50
(a) 40 (b) with compensation

Chromatic dispersion [ps/nm]


without compensation
30
-10

Transmittance [dB]
20
10
-20 0
with compensation
without compensation -10
-20
-30
-30
-40
-40 -50
-1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 -1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Normalized frequency f/ ∆f MZI Normalized frequency f/ ∆f MZI

Fig. 4. Calculated performance for structures with and without phase compensation for κL =
0.2. (a) Spectral response and (b) chromatic dispersion.

0 50
(a) 40 (b) with compensation

Chromatic dispersion [ps/nm]


without compensation
30
-10
Transmittance [dB]

20
10
-20 0
with compensation
without compensation -10
-20
-30
-30
-40
-40 -50
-1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 -1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Normalized frequency f/ ∆f MZI Normalized frequency f/ ∆f MZI

Fig. 5. Calculated performance for structures with and without phase compensation for κL =
0.4. (a) Spectral response and (b) chromatic dispersion.

To further reduce the chromatic dispersion near the edge of the passband, we also
investigated the structure in which additional dummy waveguides on both sides of four input
waveguides were arranged just before the slab as shown in Fig. 6. The transmittance and
chromatic dispersion of the flat-passband filters with the dummy input waveguides with and
without phase compensation for κL = 0.2 and 0.4 are plotted in Figs. 7 and 8. Compared with
the result in Figs. 4 and 5, the chromatic dispersion around the edge of the passband can be
further reduced to –0.3 to 0.1 ps/nm by using the additional dummy waveguides when κL =
0.2.
We should note that the chromatic dispersion slightly increases with larger κL values even
if the phase is compensated because the approximations sin ( 2κ L cos ( 25π ) ) ≅ 2κ L cos ( 25π ) and
cos ( 2κ L cos ( 25π ) ) ≅ 1 don’t hold any longer and the coupling to the waveguide next to the
adjacent waveguide does not become negligible. The coupling can be reduced by introducing
curved waveguides with a tapered core [19].

#118162 - $15.00 USD Received 5 Oct 2009; revised 6 Nov 2009; accepted 17 Nov 2009; published 20 Nov 2009
(C) 2009 OSA 23 November 2009 / Vol. 17, No. 24 / OPTICS EXPRESS 22268
Dummy

#0

#1
Input slab
#2

#3

Dummy

Fig. 6. Input waveguide structure with dummy waveguides before input slab.

0 50
(a) 40 (b) with compensation

Chromatic dispersion [ps/nm]


without compensation
30
-10
Transmittance [dB]

20
10
-20 0
with compensation
without compensation -10
-20
-30
-30
-40
-40 -50
-1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 -1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Normalized frequency f/ ∆f MZI Normalized frequency f/ ∆f MZI

Fig. 7. Calculated performance for structures with dummy waveguides with and without phase
compensation for κL = 0.2. (a) Spectral response and (b) chromatic dispersion.

0 50
with compensation
(a) 40 (b)
Chromatic dispersion [ps/nm]

without compensation
30
-10
Transmittance [dB]

20
10
-20 0
with compensation
without compensation -10
-20
-30
-30
-40
-40 -50
-1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 -1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Normalized frequency f/ ∆f MZI Normalized frequency f/ ∆f MZI

Fig. 8. Calculated performance for structures with dummy waveguides with and without phase
compensation for κL = 0.4. (a) Spectral response and (b) chromatic dispersion.

In the simulation, we considered the coupling between parallel and identical input
waveguides for simplicity. Actually, the use of the waveguides with varying distance as
shown in Fig. 6 is inevitable. Nevertheless, the chromatic dispersion would be reduced also
for the structure using input waveguides with varying distance by taking the varying distance
into account in simulating the chromatic dispersion and optimizing the parameters δ and χ in
Eq. (11) as far as the coupling at this portion is small.
In some cases, phase errors induced by fabrication imperfections also become an issue.
The amount of phase errors arising from fabrication imperfections depends on the fabrication

#118162 - $15.00 USD Received 5 Oct 2009; revised 6 Nov 2009; accepted 17 Nov 2009; published 20 Nov 2009
(C) 2009 OSA 23 November 2009 / Vol. 17, No. 24 / OPTICS EXPRESS 22269
process to be used. The proposed method using correction of waveguide lengths would be
effective for the fabrication process in which small phase errors arising from fabrication
imperfection are expected, such as silica-based planar lightwave circuit (PLC) technology.
The distortion in phase delay due to coupling would also be compensated by changing optical
path lengths in the waveguide array in post-fabrication process using ultraviolet irradiation
[30], instead of changing predetermined waveguide lengths. The optical-path-length
compensation in the post-fabrication process would be applicable to compensating for both
phase errors arising from fabrication imperfections and the phase distortion due to coupling if
the phase errors due to fabrication imperfections are large.
5. Conclusion
An approach to reducing the chromatic dispersion due to coupling between input waveguides
before the input slab for a synchronized-router-based flat-passband multi/demultiplexer using
a multiple-input AWG has been proposed. The proposed method uses phase compensation at
the array by correction of waveguide lengths. The principle of the phase compensation for the
optical circuit consisting of a multiple-input AWG combined with a cascaded MZI structure is
described and its characteristics are simulated. The chromatic dispersion within the passband
of ± 0.35 x ∆fMZI can be significantly reduced to –9.4 to 0.5 ps/nm by using phase
compensation, whereas that is –19.7 to 5.4 ps/nm without phase compensation when κL = 0.2.
The chromatic dispersion can be further reduced to –0.3 to 0.1 ps/nm by using additional
dummy waveguides.
Acknowledgment
This work in part was supported by a research-aid fund of the Foundation for Technology
Promotion of Electronic Circuit Board, a research-aid fund of the Suzuki Foundation and a
research-aid fund of the Asahi Glass Foundation.

#118162 - $15.00 USD Received 5 Oct 2009; revised 6 Nov 2009; accepted 17 Nov 2009; published 20 Nov 2009
(C) 2009 OSA 23 November 2009 / Vol. 17, No. 24 / OPTICS EXPRESS 22270

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