Exploring coupled waveguide arrays a spectrometric devices

There is a growing demand for integrated optical devices which offer enhanced stability and reliable fabrication. Integrated optical spectrometers with a wide range of operation is one highly desirable example. Compared to existing approaches such as arrayed waveguide gratings [1], we investigate unusually structured waveguide arrays. We present a theoretical-numerical approach to evaluate the optical transmission through waveguide arrays with mutual evanescent coupling between adjacent waveguides, including random coupling.
The approach was used to evaluate the transmission through an array of 100 coupled waveguides with a sinusoidal modulated width of fixed period but random phase, randomizing the strength of nearest-neighbour coupling. Waveguide arrays with various designs will be discussed in terms of the wavelength dependence of their transmission.