Realization of MMI Power Splitter by UV-light Imprinting Technique Using Hybrid Sol-Gel SiO₂ Materials

An efficient fabrication scheme of buried ridge waveguide devices is demonstrated by UV-light imprinting technique using organic-inorganic hybrid sol-gel Zr-doped SiO₂ materials. The refractive indices of a guiding layer and a cladding layer for the buried ridge waveguide structure are 1.537 and 1.492 measured at 1550nm, respectively. The tested results show more circular mode profiles due to existence of the cladding layer. A buried ridge single-mode waveguide operating at 1550nm has a low propagation loss (0.088dB/cm) and the 1×2 MMI power splitter exhibits uniform outputs, with a very low splitting loss of 0.029dB at 1549nm.