Broadband mode exchanger based on subwavelength Y-junctions

Multimode silicon photonics, leveraging mode-division multiplexing technologies, offers significant potential to increase capacity of large-scale multiprocessing systems for on-chip optical interconnects. These technologies have implications not only for telecom and datacom applications, but also for cutting-edge fields such as quantum and nonlinear photonics. Thus, the development of compact, low-loss and low-crosstalk multimode devices, in particular mode exchangers, is crucial for effective on-chip mode manipulation. This work introduces a novel mode exchanger that exploits the properties of subwavelength grating metamaterials and symmetric Y-junctions, achieving low losses and crosstalk over a broad bandwidth and a compact size of only 6.5 µm × 2.6 µm. The integration of SWG nanostructures in our design enables precise control of mode exchange through different propagation constants in the arms and metamaterial, and takes advantage of dispersion engineering to broaden the operating bandwidth. Experimental characterization demonstrates, to the best of our knowledge, the broadest operational bandwidth covering from 1,420 nm to 1,620 nm, with measured losses as low as 0.5 dB and extinction ratios higher than 10 dB. Enhanced performance is achieved within a 149 nm bandwidth (1,471–1,620 nm), showing measured losses below 0.4 dB and extinction ratios greater than 18 dB.