A three-waveguide polarization independent power splitter on lithium niobate substrate

A three-waveguide polarization independent power splitter on LiNbO3 substrate is proposed and demonstrated. Splitting ratio between the output ports and the excess loss of the device are found independent of the polarization states of the input light. The measured imbalance of the output power levels and the average excess loss of a 1 X 2 polarization independent power splitter are 0.2 dB and 0.58 dB, respectively. The device can be cascaded in tree-structure to fabricate 1 X 2(N) power splitters which are important in optical communication networks. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.