title: Ultrasmall polarization splitter based on silicon wire waveguides.
abstract: We describe an ultrasmall polarization splitter based on a simple directional coupler consisting of silicon wire waveguides. The size is only 7 x 16 microm(2), and the polarization extinction ratio is about 15 dB for a single coupler. A double-coupler structure improves the extinction ratio to over 20 dB. The excess loss is smaller than 0.5 dB for both types of device. In the device, the shape of the high-speed waveform is retained at any angle of polarization. Our polarization splitter represents a first step towards accomplishing an ultrasmall optical circuit with polarization diversity based on silicon wire waveguides.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Tai
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsuchizawa
authors.forename: Toshifumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shinojima
authors.forename: Sei-Ichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Itabashi