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Fourier techniques and direct optimization are applied to the synthesis of complex rugate filters. A hybrid approach is presented. The design strategies are illustrated numerically for different spectral shapes. OCIS codes: 310.0310, 310.1620, 310.6860, 230.4170, 230.4040, 350.2460.

A Fourier transform (FT) approach based on the evaluation of optical-density-bandwidth products in the spectral region of interest was recently proposed for the thickness estimation of reflecting thin-film dielectric filters. For simplicity, the initial discussion was limited to a particular type of immersed coating. The theory is generalized to more realistic filter configurations and confirmed by numerical examples. It is shown that good results are possible although the problem is more complex from a FT point of view. OCIS codes: 310.0310, 310.1620, 310.6860, 230.4170, 230.4040, 350.2460.

An empirical procedure based on optical-density-bandwidth products was recently proposed for thickness estimation of dielectric thin film reflectors. A parallel is established with new results derived from the Fourier transform thin film synthesis technique. Two Fourier-transform approaches are proposed and justified by numerical examples. OCIS codes: 310.0310, 310.1620, 310.6860, 230.4170, 230.4040, 350.2460.

We combined experimental and computational approaches to tune the thickness of the films in poly(N-9′-heptadecanyl-2,7-carbazole-alt-5,5-(4′,7′-di-2-thienyl-2′,1′,3′-benzothiadiazole) (PCDTBT)-based organic solar cells to maximize the solar absorption by the active layer. High power-conversion efficiencies of 5.2% and 5.7% were obtained on PCDTBT-based solar cells when using [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC60BM) and [6,6]-phenyl C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC70BM) as the electron acceptor, respectively. The cells are designed to have an active area of 1.0 cm2, which is among the largest organic solar cells in the literature, while maintaining a low series resistance of 5 Ω cm2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the design of an ultra-compact integrated wavelength demultiplexer in echelle configuration for the optical O-band realized on silicon-on-insulator technology. The device has four channels with channel spacing of 800 GHz and a small footprint of 260 × 83 μm2. Channel crosstalk lower than −28 dB across the four channels is experimentally demonstrated along with insertion losses of −1.5 dB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Athermal design of integrated photonic devices can reduce the need for active temperature stabilization and consequently the energy required to operate photonic integrated circuits. For silicon photonic filters such as AWGs which employ wire or ridge waveguides, temperature insensitivity can be achieved using cladding materials with negative thermo-optic coefficients. On the other hand, in echelle grating filters the inteference takes place in the slab free-propagation region, and therefore the modal overlap with the cladding is small, rendering this method ineffective. In this work we present an approach to design an athermal echelle grating filter exploiting a temperature-synchronized Mach-Zehnder interferometer as input. This reduces the spectral shift over a temperature range of 20 K to less than ±45 pm compared to the 1.6 nm shift for the same echelle grating with a conventional waveguide input. Furthermore, the proposed design relies exclusively on a standard fabrication process for silicon-on-insulator photonic devices and exhibits a good tolerance to fabrication uncertainties.

Gain-flattening filters (GFFs) are key wavelength division multiplexing components in fiber-optics telecommunications. Challenging issues in the design of thin-film GFFs were recently the subject of a contest organized at the 2001 Conference on Optical Interference Coatings. The interest and main difficulty of the proposed problem was to minimize the sensitivity of a GFF to simulated fabrication errors. A high-yield solution and its design philosophy are described. The approach used to control the filter robustness is explained and illustrated by numerical results.