Design of wavelength-flattened coupler using a novel diagram

A novel diagram which describes the condition of 3 dB coupler is proposed. Using the proposed diagram, the design of a wavelength-flattened 3 dB directional coupler composed of a uniform coupled waveguide is investigated. Normalized waveguide parameters are introduced to characterize a five-layer planar waveguide. This enables us to generalize the discussion and to reduce the number of parameters required for characterizing a coupled waveguide. A broadband 3 dB coupler having 50+/-5% coupling ratio over a wavelength range of 1.1-1.7 mu m is designed.