Design of PLC Triplexer Using Three Waveguide Interferometer

A novel planar lightwave circuit (PLC) triplexer using a three-waveguide interferometer (TWI) is proposed and examined using the transfer matrix and the beam propagation methods. The proposed triplexer consists of two three-waveguide couplers and three waveguides connecting the couplers. Simulation for the TWI triplexer shows the excess losses of 0.03 dB and 0.94 dB with the crosstalks of -22.3 dB and -14.5 dB in reception, respectively, for the wavelength of 1490- and 1550-nm, while showing the excess loss of 1.75 dB in transmission for the wavelength of 1310 nm. The proposed design shows compact feature as short as 11.5 mm for the refractive-index contrast of 0.45%.