The cross-section and schematic of the edge coupler used in this example is shown below (taken from reference ). The goal of this example is to design an on-chip integrated silicon on insulator (SOI) edge coupler that can efficiently couple light in and out of a conventional SMF-28 optical fiber with the operating wavelength centered at 1550 nm. Edge couplers require additional cleaving and polishing process to create the coupling facet, but they have the advantage of offering a large operating bandwidth. While grating couplers provide a non-destructive solution for coupling light in and out from any location on the chip, their bandwidth can be limited due to dispersive operating principle of grating couplers. The two common methods for getting light in and out of an integrated photonic chip are via grating couplers or edge couplers. Understand the simulation workflow and key results The S-parameters results of the edge coupler are then used to generate a compact model in INTERCONNECT. A parametrized sweep is used to optimize the edge coupler design for maximum coupling efficiency of the fundamental TE mode of the waveguide. This example shows how to design an edge coupler for coupling light between a single mode fiber and an integrated waveguide on a photonic chip.
