Wavelength multiplexer based on SiO/sub 2/-Ta/sub 2/O/sub 5/ arrayed-waveguide grating

The characteristics of a wavelength multiplexer based on an arrayed-waveguide grating are carefully investigated by using the grating theory and related experiments. A 28-channel multiplexer is designed and fabricated as SiO/sub 2/-Ta/sub 2/O/sub 5/ waveguides on a 1 cm/spl times/2 cm substrate. The designed wavelength channel spacing of 1 nm is obtained. The crosstalk to an adjacent channel is -15 dB. The measured minimum loss is 4.2 dB, which is composed of 3.4 dB excess loss and 0.8 dB grating loss.<>