Design and fabrication of packaged InP/InGaAsP multiple quantum well waveguide components with very low insertion loss

The design of a multiple quantum well (MQW) waveguide with low fibre-to-fibre loss, suitable for optoelectronic device integration, is described. The devices were grown by atmospheric pressure MOVPE and designed to be matched to standard, lensed optical fibre. Measured propagation loss was (0.75 ± 0.1) dB cm−1 with a fibre-to-fibre loss of (2.6 ± 0.1) dB. Analysis shows that the coupling loss due to mode mismatch was less than (0.52 ± 0.14) dB/facet, believed to be the lowest reported coupling loss to a semiconductor waveguide using lensed fibre. A device packaged using laser welding to fix the fibres had a total insertion loss of (3.9 ± 0.1) dB giving less than 1.3 dB excess loss due to the packaging process.