All-active InGaAsP-InP optical tapered-amplifier 1 x N power splitters

All-active tapered-amplifier power splitters (TAPS) consisting of a single-mode input waveguide, which acts as a preamplifier, a two-dimensional (2-D) diffraction section, which amplifies the signal during the splitting process, and N single-mode output waveguides, which act as post-amplifiers, were fabricated in 1.3-μm InGaAsP quantum-well material. Gains in each output guide (power out of guide/input power) of greater than 10 dB with a uniformity of better than 0.5 dB from guide to guide were measured on a 1×8 TAPS device.