Design and performance analysis of non-uniform grating couplers with integrated power splitter

Abstract

Silicon photonics has gained significant importance in diverse photonic applications due to it's outstanding passive optical properties. However, it remains a significant challenge to achieve optical integration between silicon nitride (Si3 N4) and SMF. In this proposed work, we demonstrated the design, simulation and comparative analysis of uniform and non uniform grating couplers integrated with a 16 way power splitter on a silicon photonic platform, using 3D finite difference time domain simulations. The apodized non uniform grating coupler achieves higher coupling efficiency (-3.21 dB) compared to uniform counterpart (-6.5 dB), without the use of graphene. Furthermore, we analyzed the influence of distance between the GC and power splitter side (0 ?m versus 10 ?m), showing that a 0 ?m distance yields remarkably superior optical power distribution and reduced transmission losses. This study specifically puts emphasises on the critical importance of precise structural optimization as a means to significantly enhance coupling efficiency and power distribution. Comparison between the Rowland and uniform power splitter designs integrated with a non uniform grating coupler demonstrated that the uniform splitter gives significantly better uniformity coupled with lower scattering losses which advances the performance and efficiency of large scale silicon photonics.