High-efficiency apodized bidirectional grating coupler for perfectly vertical coupling

We propose and experimentally demonstrate an apodized bidirectional grating coupler for high-efficiency, perfectly vertical coupling. Through grating apodization, the coupling efficiency (CE) can be notably improved, and the parasitic reflections can be minimized. For ease of fabrication, subwavelength gratings are introduced, which are also beneficial for the coupling performance. Simulation shows a record CE of 72%. We found that the coupler is quite robust to the variation of incidence mode field diameter and fiber misalignment. A CE of -1.8  dB is experimentally measured with a 1-dB bandwidth of 37 nm.