High efficiency light coupling from antiresonant reflecting optical waveguide to integrated photodetector using an antireflecting layer

The dispersion characteristics and radiation loss characteristics of ARROW (antiresonant reflecting optical waveguide), a novel single-mode slab waveguide, are analyzed in detail. The mechanism by which the waveguide produces a large amount of light radiation from the waveguide core to the semiconductor substrate is explained and some approximate formulas of propagation characteristics are obtained, which are useful for the design of ARROW. Two novel integrated structures of ARROW and photodetector are proposed to realize high coupling efficiency from waveguide to photodetector, small device size, and easy fabrication process. In these structures, an antireflecting (AR) layer is introduced to greatly enhance coupling efficiency. Their performance is discussed compared with the conventional waveguide structure. It is shown theoretically and experimentally that a high coupling efficiency (>90%) is achievable with short detector length in the ARROW structures.