Design and performance of free-space concave grating demultiplexers for ultrawideband WDM networks

The design methodology and the simulated performance in terms of coupling e fficiency and crosstalk for three different types of demultiplexers, constr ucted by means of holographic concave gratings, are presented. In-plane an out-of-plane geometries are discussed and a parameter sensitivity (toleranc e) analysis is presented. These devices are tailor made for three different network types: access (1000 wavelength channels at 2.5 Gb/s), metropolitan (500 wavelength channels at 10 Gb/s), and core (80 wavelength channels at 80 Gb/s). The simulated performance reveals that these devices could play a key role in future multiterabit networks.