Single-mode and single-polarization photonics with anchored-membrane waveguides.

An integrated photonic platform with "anchored-membrane" structures, the T-Guide, is proposed, numerically investigated, fabricated and characterized. These compact air-clad structures have high index contrast and are much more stable than prior membrane-type structures. Their semi-infinite geometry enables single-mode and single-polarization (SMSP) operation over unprecedented bandwidths. Modal simulations quantify this behavior, showing that an SMSP window of 2.75 octaves (1.2-8.1 μm) is feasible for silicon T-Guides, spanning almost the entire transparency range of silicon. Dispersion engineering for T-Guides yields broad regions of anomalous group velocity dispersion, rendering them a promising platform for nonlinear applications such as wideband frequency conversion. Cut-back measurements of fabricated silicon T-guides at λ = 3.64 μm show low propagation losses of 1.75 ± 0.3 dB/cm.