Characterization and optimization of photonic devices fabricated using femtosecond laser micro-matching

There is a great deal of interest and activity in the area of femtosecond micromachining of transparent materials. It promises to be a powerful technique for rapid fabrication of photonic devices in three dimensional geometries. Our group has fabricated and investigated an array of two dimensional and novel three dimensional photonic devices that are able to perform their intended functions but whose loss properties are not yet well known. The first aim of this Masters thesis is to study waveguide loss. It will focus on studying and characterizing the losses of straight and circularly curved waveguides - the building blocks of many practical devices. With a proper understanding of the loss per unit length, per unit bend angle, and per re-write of the waveguides a structured set of guidelines for device fabrication for our particular setup can be made. The second aim of this thesis is the characterization of the photonic devices fabricated and demonstrated by the author. These include a broadband characterization of directional and X couplers, as well as a demonstration of 3D symmetrical 1 :N waveguide splitters for optical signal distribution. These experimental results and discussions, which form the core of the thesis, flow in a logical fashion - from the elemental straight waveguides to the curved waveguides that are used to design the directional couplers. The X couplers provide the broadband performance that the directional couplers cannot and the 1 :N waveguide splitters fabricated with the aid of an improved experimental setup not only provide a more elegant re-design of the broadband X couplers but also demonstrate scalability to N output ports in three dimensions.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Sharma, Vikas, 1979-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• James G. Fujimoto.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/30186

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/30186