Polarization-independent grating couplers for silicon-on-insulator nanophotonic waveguides

We propose the use of subwavelength structures in a waveguide grating to achieve polarization-independent coupling of light between an optical fiber and a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) optical waveguide. The subwavelength structure allows the mode effective indices of the TE and TM modes in the grating section to be precisely engineered. We calculate that coupling efficiency of over 64% is possible using the proposed design for polarization-independent coupling between single-mode optical fibers and SOI nanophotonic waveguides. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America