FIELD

Some of the described embodiments relate generally to optical systems with light emitting components and more specifically to asymmetrically splitting optical power between multiple waveguides.

BACKGROUND

Optical splitters may split such light to facilitate operation of the optical system. Optical splitters may be used to provide multiple outputs from an optical system and/or to split light in order to enable various operations within an optical system. An optical splitter might split light to facilitate control of one or more components within the optical system, such as controlling a power output from the system, to provide simultaneous transmission of data to multiple destinations, as in a point-to-multipoint network, for feedback or feedforward control of an optical system or components therein, and so on.

Optical splitters may reduce the amount of light provided to components of the optical system. Additionally, the splitting components are highly sensitive to wavelength changes and function over a very limited and narrow wavelength range.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the systems, devices, methods, and apparatus described in the present disclosure are directed to a waveguide structure for asymmetrically splitting optical power over a broad wavelength range while remaining wavelength insensitive. Also described are systems, devices, methods, directed to splitting optical power by non-adiabatically coupling waveguides to one another and varying the widths of waveguides to achieve the desired optical power split.

In some examples, the present disclosure describes a light guiding device which may include: a first waveguide optically coupled to and located between a first portion of a second waveguide and a first portion of a third waveguide, wherein the optical coupling is wavelength insensitive; a second portion of the second waveguide, optically coupled to and separated by a first gap from a second portion of the third waveguide, wherein the second portion of the second waveguide and the second portion of the third waveguide are unequal in width; and a third portion of the second waveguide optically decoupled from a third portion of the third waveguide, wherein the third portion of the second waveguide and the third portion of the third waveguide are separated by a second gap. In some examples, the width of the second portion of the second waveguide may increase in width and the second portion of the third waveguide may decrease in width. In some examples, the optical coupling may occur over a wavelength range of 800 nanometers to 1700 nanometers. In some examples, the width of the second portion of the second waveguide and the width of the second portion of the third waveguide may vary non-adiabatically. In still further examples, the walls of the second waveguide may be nonlinear and the walls of the third waveguide may be nonlinear.

In some examples, the present disclosure describes a method for asymmetrically splitting optical power, which may include: optically coupling a first waveguide to a second waveguide and a third waveguide, in a section of a waveguide structure, where the optical coupling may be wavelength insensitive; non-adiabatically varying a width of the second waveguide and non-adiabatically varying a width of the third waveguide; where a first portion of optical power couples from the first waveguide to the second waveguide and a second portion of optical power couples from the first waveguide to the third waveguide and the first portion and the second portion of optical power are different. In some examples, the method may include varying a width of a gap between the second waveguide and the third waveguide in the section of the waveguide structure, based at least in part on the width of the second waveguide and the width of the third waveguide. In some examples, the optical coupling may occur over a wavelength range of 800 nanometers to 1700 nanometers. In some examples, the width of the second waveguide may be increased and the width of the third waveguide may be decreased in the section of the waveguide structure.

In some examples, the method may further include one or more of the following: optically decoupling the second waveguide and the third waveguide in a second section of the waveguide structure, varying a width of a gap between the second waveguide and the third waveguide, in a second section of the waveguide structure, to optically decouple the second waveguide from the third waveguide, and/or controlling an amount of power coupled from the first waveguide to the second waveguide and the third waveguide by varying the widths of the second waveguide and the third waveguide. In some examples, the first portion of optical power may be approximately 90 percent of the optical power of the first waveguide and the second portion of optical power is approximately 10 percent of the optical power of the first waveguide.

In some examples, the present disclosure describes a method of splitting optical power, which may include optically coupling a first waveguide to a second waveguide and a third waveguide, in a first section of a waveguide structure; varying a first width of the second waveguide and varying a first width of the third waveguide, in a second section of the waveguide structure, to optically couple the second waveguide with the third waveguide; and varying a gap between the second waveguide and the third waveguide, in a third section of the waveguide structure, to optically decouple the second waveguide from the third waveguide. In some examples, the method may further include non-adiabatically varying the widths of the optically coupled second waveguide and third waveguide. In some examples, non-adiabatically varying the widths of the optically coupled second waveguide and third waveguide may include optically coupling optical power from the second waveguide to the third waveguide.

In still further examples, the method may include adiabatically tapering the first waveguide to couple the first waveguide to the second waveguide and the third waveguide. In some examples, optically coupling the first waveguide to the second waveguide and the third waveguide in the first section of the waveguide structure may include splitting the optical power from the first waveguide symmetrically between the second waveguide and the third waveguide. In some examples, the method may include varying a width of the gap between the second waveguide and the third waveguide, based at least in part on the first width of the second waveguide and the first width of the third waveguide.

In some examples, the present disclosure describes an optical power splitting device, which may include a tapered input waveguide optically coupled to a waveguide pair in a first section of the optical power splitting device, where the optical coupling is wavelength insensitive; a first waveguide of the waveguide pair non-adiabatically tapered and optically coupled to the tapered input waveguide; and a second waveguide of the waveguide pair non-adiabatically tapered and optically coupled to the tapered input waveguide; where a first quantity of optical power from the tapered input waveguide is coupled to the first waveguide of the waveguide pair and a second quantity of optical power from the tapered input waveguide is coupled to the second waveguide of the waveguide pair and the first quantity of optical power is different from the second quantity of optical power and a difference between the first and second quantity of optical power is based at least in part on a width of the first waveguide of the waveguide pair and a width of the second waveguide of the waveguide pair. In some examples, the first quantity of optical power is 80 percent of the optical power from the tapered input waveguide and the second quantity of optical power is 20 percent of the optical power from the tapered input waveguide. In still further examples, the optical coupling may occur over a wavelength range of 800 nanometers to 1700 nanometers.

In addition to the example aspects and embodiments described herein, further aspects and embodiments will become apparent by reference to the drawings and by study of the following description.

