Characterization of a compact silicon-based slot-to-strip waveguide crossing.

A compact crossing scheme for a silicon-based slot-to-strip (or vice versa) waveguide is proposed and analyzed by using a finite-difference time-domain method, where a strip–multimode waveguide (SMW) crossing is used at the center and two logarithmically tapered slot-to-strip mode converters are incorporated into the ports with slot waveguides. For the input ports with slot waveguides and output ports with strip waveguides, the guided modes are efficiently transformed through the mode converter, and then enter into the SMW, where the fields converge at the center of the intersection due to the self-imaging effect. Hence, the size of the input beam is much smaller than the width of the SMW at the crossing center, leading to significant reductions of both crosstalk and radiation loss. The numerical results show that a slot-to-strip waveguide crossing operating at a wavelength of 1.55??m can be achieved with insertion loss, crosstalk, and reflection of 0.134/0.182, ?36.18/?38.6, and ?35.8/?42.02?dB for input ports with slot/strip waveguides, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]