Design of a compact and integrated TM-rotated/TE-through polarization beam splitter for silicon-based slot waveguides

A compact and integrated TM-rotated/TE-through polarization beam splitter for silicon-based slot waveguides is proposed and characterized. For the input TM mode, it is first transferred into the cross strip waveguide using a tapered directional coupler (DC), and then efficiently rotated to the corresponding TE mode using an L-shaped bending polarization rotator (PR). Finally, the TE mode for slot waveguide at the output end is obtained with the help of a strip-to-slot mode converter. By contrast, for the input TE mode, it almost passes through the slot waveguide directly and outputs at the bar end with nearly neglected coupling due to a large mode mismatch. Moreover, an additional S-bend connecting the tapered DC and bending PR is used to enhance the performance. Results show that a total device length of 19.6 μm is achieved, where the crosstalk (CT) and polarization conversion loss are, respectively −26.09 and 0.54 dB, for the TM mode, and the CT and insertion loss are, respectively, −22.21 and 0.41 dB, for the TE mode, both at 1.55 μm. The optical bandwidth is approximately 50 nm with a CT<−20  dB. In addition, fabrication tolerances and field evolution are also presented.