Arrayed waveguide grating for visible light application

Miniaturized spectrometers, owing to their compact dimensions, high sensitivity, and low cost, have been extensively applied in environmental monitoring, biomedical diagnostics, industrial inspection, and other fields. However, conventional miniature spectrometers often face challenges in simultaneously achieving high spectral resolution, miniaturization, and a high degree of integration. As a pivotal component in integrated optics, the Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG) possesses advantages such as exceptional resolution, broad spectral bandwidth, and superior integrability, thus serving as a highly effective means for the design and realization of miniature spectrometers. Here, a highly uniform visible light arrayed waveguide grating with a central wavelength of 633nm was designed and fabricated. The device was based on a 300 nm silicon nitride platform, with the waveguide width of 300nm. The beam diverges at the input star coupler, then propagates through the arrayed waveguide, and finally converges on the image plane of the output star coupler. There are 4 output channels with a channel spacing of 10nm, and the spectral resolution is 5nm. This configuration can provide a uniform spectral output with a high stability, making it suitable for applications in the field of spectral analysis.