Broadband graphene-based optical power coupler and polarization beam splitter using a directional coupler

The utilization of directional couplers (DCs) as power splitters and combiners is ubiquitous for the realization of integrated silicon photonic devices in the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform. Benefiting from the excellent modal modulation performance of graphene in silicon waveguides, we present its high flexibility to engineer and reduce the wavelength dependence of devices based on the DC. In this regard, a wavelength-insensitive 3-dB optical power coupler (3-dB OPC) is firstly proposed, in which various power splitting ratios are realized for the TE mode. Next, we design a broadband polarization beam splitter (PBS) consisting of a silicon waveguide (SW) and a graphene-silicon vertical slot waveguide (GSVSW). The simulation results show that the proposed PBS has high polarization extinction ratios (PERs) of 20.93 and 20.4 dB and low insertion losses (ILs) of 0.12 and 0.21 dB at 1550 nm for the thru and cross ports, respectively. In addition, the designed PBS demonstrates the ability to work over a wide range of wavelengths by changing the chemical potential of graphene. (C) 2021 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement