We demonstrate a Complex Waveguide Bragg Grating (CWBG) which can be designed to generate an arbitrary transmission spectrum. A comprehensive design method, based on the Layer Peeling/Adding algorithm, is developed to realize the grating on a silica-on-silicon platform. The CWBG has a simple one-layer waveguide structure for ease of fabrication. A spectral precision better than ±0.1 nm and a suppression ratio between 15 dB and 33 dB are achieved for a transmission spectrum consisting of 20 randomly distributed spectral notches with a 3 dB width of 0.3–0.4 nm. Among the CWBG's various potential applications, we highlight its use for eliminating OH emission lines from the Earth's atmosphere for ground-based astronomical observations.
Astrophotonics is the next-generation approach that provides the means to miniaturize near-infrared (NIR) spectrometers for upcoming large telescopes and make them more robust and inexpensive. The target requirements for our spectrograph are: a resolving power of ∼3000, wide spectral range (J and H bands), free spectral range of about 30 nm, high on-chip throughput of about 80% (-1dB) and low crosstalk (high contrast ratio) between adjacent on-chip wavelength channels of less than 1% (-20 dB). A promising photonic technology to achieve these requirements is Arrayed Waveguide Gratings (AWGs). We have developed our first generation of AWG devices using a silica-on-silicon substrate with a very thin layer of Si 3 N 4 in the core of our waveguides. The waveguide bending losses are minimized by optimizing the geometry of the waveguides. Our first generation of AWG devices are designed for H band have a resolving power of ∼1500 and free spectral range of ∼ 10 nm around a central wavelength of 1600 nm. The devices have a footprint of only 12 mm × 6 mm. They are broadband (1450-1650 nm), have a peak on-chip throughput of about 80% (∼ -1 dB) and contrast ratio of about 1.5% (-18 dB). These results confirm the robustness of our design, fabrication and simulation methods. Currently, the devices are designed for Transverse Electric (TE) polarization and all the results are for TE mode. We are developing separate J-and H-band AWGs with higher resolving power, higher throughput and lower crosstalk over a wider free spectral range to make them better suited for astronomical applications.
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