title: Highly tolerant tunable waveguide polarization rotator scheme.
abstract: Integrated polarization rotators are known to exhibit stringent fabrication tolerances, which severely handicap their practical application. Here we present a general polarization rotator scheme that enables both the compensation of fabrication errors and wavelength tunability. The scheme is described analytically, and a condition for perfect polarization conversion is established. Simulations of a silicon-on-insulator polarization rotator show polarization extinction ratios in excess of 40  dB even in the presence of large fabrication errors that in a conventional rotator configuration degrade the extinction ratio to below 5  dB. Additionally, wavelength tuning over ±30  nm is shown.
authors.affiliation: Departamento Ingeniería de Comunicaciones, ETSI Telecomunicación, Universidad de Málaga, 29010 Málaga, Spain. caar@ic.uma.es
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Alonso-Ramos
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Halir
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ortega-Moñux
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cheben
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vivien
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Molina-Fernández
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Marris-Morini
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Janz
authors.forename: D-X
authors.initials: DX
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schmid