Optical isolator and photonic integrated circuit including the same

Abstract

Provided is an optical isolator including a semiconductor substrate, an optical attenuator and an optical amplifier aligned with each other on the semiconductor substrate, an input optical waveguide connected to the optical attenuator, and an output optical waveguide connected to the optical amplifier, wherein a gain of the optical amplifier decreases based on an intensity of light incident on the optical amplifier increasing, wherein a first input light incident on the optical attenuator through the input optical waveguide is output as a first output light through the output optical waveguide, and a second input light incident on the optical amplifier through the output optical waveguide is output as a second output light through the input optical waveguide, and wherein when an intensity of the first input light and an intensity of the second input light are equal, an intensity of the first output light is greater than an intensity of the second output light.