Integrated dispersive structures for bandwidth-enhancement of silicon grating couplers

In photonic integrated circuits grating couplers are commonly used to establish an efficient and stable fiber-to-chip link. However, the actual coupling efficiency of a fiber-to-chip interface depends strongly on the used wavelength and exhibits a maximum at a distinct target wavelength, determined by grating design parameters. In this paper, an enhancement of the optical bandwidth of silicon grating couplers by adding integrated dispersive structures is discussed. These are realized by single layers, prism-like geometries and additional silicon nitride gratings. Theoretical considerations for a bandwidth-enhancement by dispersive layers are performed and applied to an existing grating coupler design. A simulated 1dB-bandwidth of up to 90 nm at a maximum efficiency of − 0.65 dB in the C-band could be achieved, which is an enhancement to a factor of about 2 compared with the original coupler design.