Grating Couplers With an Integrated Power Splitter for High-Intensity Optical Power Distribution

In this letter, we present a fiber grating coupler with an integrated 16-way power splitter. The incoming light from the fiber is split immediately over 16 channels, and therefore, the total optical power is never confined in a single waveguide. This is of particular interest for silicon photonics platforms, because, here, high optical intensities can cause significant non-linear losses. The device has a total coupling efficiency that is similar to standard focusing grating couplers. Furthermore, a channel non-uniformity below 1.1 dB has been obtained. By studying the alignment sensitivity, we found that for high splitting uniformity, a careful positioning of the fiber is necessary. We also experimentally demonstrate that this device is indeed capable of handling high optical powers without introducing additional non-linear losses.