POLARIZATION SPLITTER BASED ON ANTIRESONANT REFLECTING OPTICAL WAVE-GUIDES

We propose the first polarization splitter based on antiresonant optic al waveguides (ARROW's). The three air core structure is built up of t wo moveable outer cladding layers and two fixed inner cladding layers. The moveability of both outer cladding layers makes micromechanical s witching of the polarized light between two output channels possible. The polarization discrimination is realized through thin metal films-d eposited on the outermost surfaces of the outer cladding layers. The e xtinction ratios of channels 1 and 3 as a function of the thickness of all cladding layers are calculated. We found that for extinction rati os below -20 dB thickness fluctuations smaller than +/-15 mm are allow ed.