Distributed etched diffraction grating demultiplexer

This doctoral thesis studies the concept of a distributed etched diffraction grating (DEDG) and presents a methodology to engineer the spectral response of the device. The design which incorporates a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) at the facets of a conventional etched diffraction grating demultiplexer promises for a superior performance in multiple aspects. Where in a conventional etched diffraction grating, smooth vertical deep etched walls are required in order to realize a low insertion loss device; in the DEDG such requirement is significantly mitigated. Deep etched walls are replaced with shallowly etched diffraction grating facets followed by a DBR structure and as a result devices with significantly lower insertion loss are achievable. The feasibility of the application of DEDG as a wavelength demultiplexer was demonstrated through fabrication and characterization of a prototype device. The proof of concept device was fabricated using the state of the art deep UV optical lithography and reactive ion etching in a nano-photonic silicon-on-insulator (SOI) material platform. The fabricated device was then characterized in the lab.;Furthermore, incorporation of the DBR structure at the facets of the conventional etched diffraction grating decouples the reflection and diffraction functionalities, rendering the DEDG suitable for spectral response engineering. According to the application, the output spectral response of the device can be tailored through careful design and optimization of the incorporated DBR. In this thesis, through numerical simulations we have shown that functionalities such as polarization independent performance and at top insertion loss envelop are viable. A methodology to engineer the spectral response of the DEDG is discussed in details.