| The implementation of a novel analysis system to characterize rapidly and accurately polarization-sensitive dense wavelength division multiplexing photonic integrated circuits is detailed within this document. The acquisition and subsequent analysis of passive optical insertion loss and absolute responsivity spectrum of MetroPhotonics Inc.'s products shall be discussed.; Polarization-maintaining fibers are typically manually calibrated and rotated to evaluate the performance of such devices under extreme orthogonal states of polarization, known as transverse electrical and transverse magnetic modes. This highly manual measurement technique has proven unsuitable for a mass production environment.; Device Mueller matrix terms used in conjunction with advanced analysis algorithms have been used to evaluate the performance of these devices for any desired state of polarization, with largely increased overall testing capacity, accuracy and repeatability.; Different novel analysis algorithms have been evaluated to isolate the orthogonal input TE and TM spectrum, while still providing the extremes of insertion loss and/or responsivity at each wavelength steps across the operating wavelength range.; The algorithms described herein to recover said spectra are novel as, to our knowledge, nothing equivalent has yet been reported in any scientific literature.; This technique has enabled the Test and Measurement group of MetroPhotonics Inc. to provide new insight in the polarization-dependent performance of different planar waveguide photonic integrated circuit products, while providing more accurate process related metrics to the fabrication and design groups. These efforts culminated in the delivery of fully calibrated MetroPhotonics SurePath(TM) portfolio products to customers. |
