Integrated photonic polarisation rotator and splitter and related method

Abstract

In an integrated polarization splitting and rotating photonic device comprising at least one first waveguide; a second waveguide, both said waveguides extending from an input section to an output section; a top cladding; a bottom cladding and a symmetry-breaking layer so as to form an optical guiding structure in a wafer chip, said top and bottom claddings extending throughout the whole optical guiding structure sandwiching said waveguides therebetween, said symmetry-breaking layer extends in the optical guiding structure at least over the whole guiding structure length, and, at the input section, the at least one first waveguide core has a predetermined width through the optical guiding structure to the output section, receiving an input light signal, and further, the second waveguide core, both at the input and the output section, has a width narrower than said predetermined width of the first waveguide core; so that the optical guiding structure guides a first mode substantially confined within said at least one first waveguide core and a second mode substantially confined within said second semiconductor waveguide core said first and said second modes having the same polarization at the output section.