Improved Performance of a Wavelength-Tunable Arrayed Waveguide Grating in Silicon on Insulator^*

The improved performance of a wavelength-tunable arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) is demonstrated, including the crosstalk, insertion loss and the wavelength tuning efficiency. A reduced impact of the fabrication process on the AWG is achieved by the design of bi-level tapers. The wavelength tuning of the AWG is achieved according to the thermo-optic effect of silicon, and uniform heating of the silicon waveguide layer is achieved by optimizing the heater design. The fabricated AWG shows a minimum crosstalk of 16 dB, a maximum insertion loss of 3.91 dB and a wavelength tuning efficiency of 8.92 nm/W, exhibiting a ∼8 dB improvement of crosstalk, ∼2.1 dB improvement of insertion loss and ∼5 nm/W improvement of wavelength tuning efficiency, compared to our previous reported results. (paper)