Broadly tunable thin-film intereference coatings: active thin films for telecom applications

Lawrence H. Domash; Eugene Y. Ma; Mark T. Lourie; Wayne F. Sharfin; Matthias Wagner

doi:10.1117/12.479819

17 June 2003 Broadly tunable thin-film intereference coatings: active thin films for telecom applications

Lawrence H. Domash, Eugene Y. Ma, Mark T. Lourie, Wayne F. Sharfin, Matthias Wagner

Proceedings Volume 4989, Optical Devices for Fiber Communication IV; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.479819
Event: Integrated Optoelectronics Devices, 2003, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

Thin film interference coatings (TFIC) are the most widely used optical technology for telecom filtering, but until recently no tunable versions have been known except for mechanically rotated filters. We describe a new approach to broadly tunable TFIC components based on the thermo-optic properties of semiconductor thin films with large thermo-optic coefficients 3.6X10[-4]/K. The technology is based on amorphous silicon thin films deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), a process adapted for telecom applications from its origins in the flat-panel display and solar cell industries. Unlike MEMS devices, tunable TFIC can be designed as sophisticated multi-cavity, multi-layer optical designs. Applications include flat-top passband filters for add-drop multiplexing, tunable dispersion compensators, tunable gain equalizers and variable optical attenuators. Extremely compact tunable devices may be integrated into modules such as optical channel monitors, tunable lasers, gain-equalized amplifiers, and tunable detectors.

Citation Download Citation

Lawrence H. Domash, Eugene Y. Ma, Mark T. Lourie, Wayne F. Sharfin, and Matthias Wagner "Broadly tunable thin-film intereference coatings: active thin films for telecom applications", Proc. SPIE 4989, Optical Devices for Fiber Communication IV, (17 June 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.479819

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