Achromatic multiple beam splitting by adiabatic passage in optical waveguides

摘要

A novel variable achromatic optical beam splitter with one input and $N$output waveguide channels is introduced. The physical mechanism of thismultiple beam splitter is adiabatic passage of light between neighboringoptical waveguides in a fashion reminiscent of the technique of stimulatedRaman adiabatic passage in quantum physics. The input and output waveguides arecoupled via a mediator waveguide and the ratios of the light intensities in theoutput channels are controlled by the couplings of the respective waveguides tothe mediator waveguide. Due to its adiabatic nature the beam splittingefficiency is robust to variations in the experimental parameters.