Dispersion-free SOI interleaver for DWDM applications

Integrated optical asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer-based dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) channel interleaver structures (2 × 2) have been theoretically studied using various single-mode waveguide geometries in silicon-on-insulator platform. Subsequently, a dispersion-free interleaver design has been proposed, fabricated, and characterized. It was designed to separate alternate DWDM channels with 100 GHz spacings. Some of the fabricated prototype devices have been fiber pigtailed and packaged in a suitably designed metal housing. The transmitted spectra ( 1520 nm < λ < 1600 nm) at each of the output ports reveal that alternate DWDM channel wavelengths are separated with a uniform inter-channel extinction of ∼ 18 dB. Each of the channel passbands shows their 3-dB bandwidth of ∼ 40 GHz. © 2006 IEEE.