Custom Arrayed Waveguide Gratings with Improved Performance

TL;DR

This paper reviews various methods for customizing arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs) to enhance their bandwidth, spectral resolution, and transmission characteristics for diverse optical applications.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of existing techniques for improving AWG performance, discussing their principles, advantages, and disadvantages.

Findings

Multiple methods for AWG customization are summarized.

Trade-offs between different AWG improvement techniques are analyzed.

The review highlights future directions for AWG performance enhancement.

Abstract

Arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs) are key optical components of various new applications in telecommunication, astrology, medical imaging, and spectroscopy. It is a very powerful integrated light dispersion technology with significant flexibility for tailoring its performance to the individual system needs of each application. There are several examples of custom AWG designs in the literature aiming for improved system performance. In this review, we will provide an overview of the available methods for improving the bandwidth, spectral resolution, and transmission function shape of AWGs. The working principle as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each method will be discussed.