Multi-Beam Grating Structures

New systems are being developed around innovative diffractive optical components. Applications in optical interconnects, signal switching and interferometry have created a need for two-dimensional optical fanout gratings with unusual geometries. The increasingly complex gratings being designed for such optical fanout devices require specialized optimization algorithms to achieve desired performance. In this paper, we demonstrate optimization of a fanout grating in an n-dimensional solution space using a simulated annealing algorithm. The algorithm provides a successful first-order design which is further optimized using wave optics design software. A three beam grating is fabricated and tested; diffraction efficiencies will be reported. By means of the example below, we present a design algorithm for fanout grating of arbitrary geometry.