Low-Loss and Laser Damage Resistant O-Band AWG Multiplexer

The next generation high-efficiency and high-power optical network requires high performance wavelength division multiplexer, which can withstand high power input with good optical performance such as insertion loss and channel crosstalk. In this paper, an improved design and packaging silica-based <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$1 \times 4$</tex> O-band arrayed waveguide grating multiplexer is presented and demonstrated. The laser damage mechanism is studied and experimentally verified. The optical performance of the proposed design is tested and compared with the conventional multiplexer. These results show the proposed device can operate at a high 5W input power, and have insertion loss of 1.595 dB, which is 1.5 dB lower than the conventional packaged device under high power operation.