Highly-efficient broadband TE/TM polarization beam splitter

TL;DR

This paper presents a highly efficient, broadband polarization beam splitter designed with inverse methods, achieving high transmission, small size, and CMOS compatibility for integrated photonics.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel inverse design approach for a compact, broadband TE/TM polarization beam splitter with high efficiency and extinction ratio.

Findings

Transmission efficiency of about 96% for TM modes

High extinction ratio over 16 dB across 200 nm bandwidth

Small device footprint suitable for CMOS fabrication

Abstract

Highly-efficient broadband polarization beam splitters with small footprint and based on silicon photonics technology are of great importance in optical integrated circuits. In this paper, a crucially applicable optical component of a TE/TM polarization beam splitter has been designed and simulated using the inverse design of adjoint method. The mentioned device has ultra-high transmission efficiency (about 96% for TM$_{00}$ and 93% for TE$_{00}$ modes) and high extinction ratio of more than 16 dB over the bandwidth of 200 nm. Small footprint (2.2 $\times$ 2.1 $\mu$m$^2$), broad bandwidth (200 nm), and compatibility with CMOS technology fabrication indicate the eligibility of this device.