High-density integrated 1/spl times/16 optical FDM multi/demultiplexer

Integrated optical multi/demultiplexers based on Mach-Zehnder (MZ) interferometers are promising devices for optical frequency division multiplexing (FDM) transmission systems. 1/spl times/4 and 1/spl times/8 optical FDM multi/demultiplexers have been fabricated using planar lightwave circuit (PLC) technology based on silica-glass waveguides on Si. In order to realize higher density integrated multi/demultiplexer that are larger in scale, it will be advantageous to use waveguides with a high relative refractive index difference (high-/spl Delta/) because of their small bending radius. This paper presents a high-density integrated 1/spl times/16 optical FDM multi/demultiplexer using high-/spl Delta/ silica-glass waveguides, which is larger in scale than any previously reported optical multi/demultiplexer based on MZ interferometers.