Active lossless monolithic one-by-four splitters/combiners using optical gates on InP

Active one-by-four splitters/combiners were fabricated on InP from the monolithic integration of waveguides and amplifiers. The device exhibited propagation loss below 1.5 dB/spl middot/cm/sup -1/, S-bend loss of 0.2 dB per bend, a 3-dB optical bandwidth of 23 nm, a mean optical crosstalk and extinction ratio of, respectively, 37 dB and 42 dB. On all paths, at least 0 dB insertion loss (fiber to-fiber gain up to 2.8 dB) as well as a low polarization sensitivity (below 1.0 dB) were demonstrated. This device can be used as the basic building block of bit-rate transparent switches for optical routing and broadcasting.<
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