I INTRODUCTION

The word 'photonics' is use to describe a research or development field whose goal was to use
light to perform functions that traditionally fell within the typical domain of electronics, such as
telecommunications, information processing, and so on.
In 1960, photonics as a field began with the invention of the laser following by other
developments, including the laser diode, optical fibers for transmitting information, and the Erbiumdoped fiber amplifier. These inventions formed the basis for the telecommunications revolution and
provided the infrastructure for the Internet. In the 1980s, the term photonics came into common use
as fiber-optic data transmission was adopted by telecommunications network operators. Thus,
photonics can be known as a field focused largely on telecommunications.
Photonics is closely related to optics, like quantum optics, optomechanics, electro-optics,
optoelectronics and quantum electronics. Applications of photonics are ubiquitous. Included are all
areas from everyday life to the most advanced science. For example, light detection,
telecommunications, information processing, lighting, metrology, spectroscopy, holography,
medicine (surgery, vision correction, endoscopy, health monitoring), military technology, laser
material processing, visual art, biophotonics, agriculture, and robotics.
There are two categories of photonic devices; one is active photonic device, while another is
passive photonic device. However, this report will more focus on passive photonic devices. Passive
photonic device can be defined as a photonic device that does not require a source of energy for its
operation. Examples of passive devices are electrical resistors, electrical capacitors, diodes, optical
fibers, cables, wires, glass lenses, and filters.
Complicated photonic integrated circuits are made of construction of various fundamental
photonic building blocks or components. Some example of passive elements and devices are
waveguide bends (straight and curved waveguide), directional coupler, multimode interference
coupler, Y-junction, Mach-Zehnder interferometer, Bragg grating and ring resonator. In passive
devices in addition to the stricter definition of elements with no gain, mean also some elements
without any modification in refractive index, that is, no turning effect such as thermal or plasma
dispersion.

Figure 1: Passive Si photonic devices. Clockwise from top left. Arrayed waveguide grating, spiral
delay line, photonic crystal bend, grating coupler, ring resonator.

II TECHNOLOGIES
The major technology of the passive photonic devices is in the field of the optical
communication or optical network system. Photonic crystal waveguide, directional coupler,
multimode interference coupler, Y-junction, Mach-Zehnder interferometer, bragg grating and ring
resonator are included as a passive photonic device.
In present optical communication system, electrical devices limitation restricts the
development of optical networks. However, slow light is one solution. Photonic crystal waveguide
slow light technology has its advantages in this area. It can produce slow light in room temperature
and almost any frequency, do not need specious material and can easily control the speed of slow
light. This technology offers wide bandwidth and dispersion-free propagation. The photonic crystal
waveguide which is a thin slab of silicon punctuated by regular arrays of holes give the material a
very high refractive index, which means that the higher the refractive index, the slowest the light
propagate. Heating the waveguide locally with a small electrical current alters the refractive index,
allowing the speed of light to be quickly tuned over a large range with very low applied electric
power. It provides an optical delay lines, optical buffers and even optical memory which all of these
are useful in optical communication system.
Besides, in Fiber to the Home (FTTF) networks, photonic coupler and photonic splitter play
an important role by allowing a single Passive Optical Network (PON) to be shared among many
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subscribers. It divides or combines lightwave in a straight forward physical manner requiring no

electrical processing. Photonic splitters are installed in each optical network between the
PON Optical Line Termination (OLT) and the Optical Network Unit(ONU) that the OLT serves. A
PON network may be designed with a single optical splitter, or it can have two or more splitters
cascaded together. Since each optical connection adds attenuation, a single splitter is superior to
multiple cascaded splitters. One net additional coupling (and source of attenuation) is introduced in
connecting two splitters together. The splitters can be deployed in the Central Office (CO) alongside
the OLT, or in an OutSide Plant (OSP) cabinet closer to the subscribers, or can also deploy in the
basement of a building for a Multiple Dwelling Unit (MDU) installation. The attenuation of light
through an optical splitter is symmetrical. Thus, whether the light is combined in the upstream
direction or divided in the downstream direction, it still introduces the same attenuation to an optical
input signal. Therefore, in optical communication system, the carrier frequency is about 100THz and
the bit rate is about 1T bit/s.
Another technology of the passive photonic device is in the medicine field which used
integrated Silicon-on-Insulator optical biosensor, fabricated with Deep UV-lithography, based on
resonant microring cavities to detect biomolecular interaction. The shift of resonance wavelength that
occurs when the dielectric surroundings of a cavity is changed, can be used for sensing. An SOI
optical microring resonator with a radius of 5 micron is capable of detecting bulk refractive index
changes of 104. This technology can be apply in many areas such as bacterial and virus detection,
medical diagnostics, drug development, food and environmental control. The integrated Silicon-onInsulator (SOI) optical biosensor combines fast sample preparation, real time and quantitative
measurements and reduced analyte quantities with a high throughput fabrication method using
standard microelectronics processing, in particular deep UV lithography. It offers a high refractive
index contrast suitable for the fabrication of optical cavities of very high quality. Direct sensing of
proteins is based on affinity between protein couples; a protein (ligand) xed to the sensors surface
forms a complex with a complementary protein (analyte). When the light with a wavelength and L
being circumference, couples to a microring resonator whispering gallery modes occur. Thus, this
results in a sharp dip in transmission. A change in the refractive index of the rings environment
shifts the resonance spectrum, which can be monitored by scanning the wavelength and by
measuring the intensity profile at one well chosen wavelength.

III IMPLEMENTATIONS
Passive photonic device is implemented in various ways. One of them is the Passive Optical
Splitter. Optical Splitter is a passive optical device that connects three or more fiber ends, dividing
one input between two or more outputs, or combining two or more inputs into one output. Also,
optical splitter is generally deployed in passive optical network. This as a result gives carriers the
ability to split optical signals to multiple customer premises. It also enables the connection of
multiple branch optical fibers in case that one trunk optical fiber was applied.
Moreover, it is also applied with Silicon photonic wire waveguides. The simplest passive
device would be a branch. For example, a multimode interference (MMI) branches are usually
proposed and fabricated with the silicon-wire waveguides.

It is easy to configure multi-stage

branches in a small area as the MMI branch units are no more than 3m in size and also the
waveguides can bend light with a micrometer radius.
Also, silicon-waveguide-based MMI couplers can be used in many optical components such
as optical modulators, optical switches, and ring resonators. For these applications, the MMI device
works as a 50-50% splitter or combiner, just like a 3dB directional coupler. The MMI coupler has
also been used in an arrayed waveguide grating to broaden the spectral response and in a variable
optical attenuator.
Some notable applications of waveguide Bragg gratings are optical filtering, optical add-drop
multiplexing (OADM), and the enabling of narrow line-width semiconductor lasers.
An optical filter selectively transmits light having certain properties, commonly the light
wavelength, while blocking the remainder. Guided-mode resonance filters are also categorized in
optical filter. These filters are normally filters in reflection that is they are notch filters in
transmission. They consist in their most basic form of a substrate waveguide and a subwavelength grating or 2D hole array. Thus, in relating to Bragg gratings, for optical filtering,
transmission spectrum is more important to understand transmission loss, stop-band spectral
bandwidth and extinction ratio (ER), and side-lobe suppressing.
As for optical add-drop multiplexer (OADM), it is a device used in wavelength-division
multiplexing systems for multiplexing and routing different channels of light into or out of a single
mode fiber (SMF). This is a type of optical node, which is generally used for the construction of
optical telecommunications
networks. Here, fiber Bragg gratings are used with optical circulators and variety of demultiplexer
and multiplexer technologies to realize an OADM physically.
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Narrow linewidth semiconductor lasers are widely used in coherent fiber-optic

communication systems, sensors and etc. These narrow-linewidth lasers are commonly applied as a
light source for coherent optical communication systems. In addition, fiber Bragg gratings can then
be used as direct sensing elements for strain and temperature. They can also be used as transduction
elements, converting the output of another sensor, which generates a strain or temperature change
from the measurand.
Other than that, as for ring resonator, various ring-resonator-based filters have been
developed. A single resonator is very compact and suitable for high-density integration. However, its
Lorentzian resonance is not suitable for filters for telecommunications applications which require flat
pass band. Ring resonator filters do not require facets or gratings for optical feedback and are thus
particularly suited for monolithic integration with other components such as lasers and
photodetectors. The performance of passive ring resonators for filters applications is limited by
internal losses. The incorporation of a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) enables additional
functionality including the compensation of internal losses.

IV IMPACT OF PASSIVE PHOTONIC DEVICES

Photonic influences many aspect of our life and is one of the most important technologies for
the 21st century. There are currently a lot of passive photonic devices used in industry. Examples of
these passive photonic devices are Y-junction, directional coupler, waveguide, ring resonator, etc.
Y-junction is a simple three-port device which can operate as either a splitter or a combiner. A
Y-branch waveguide is a fundamental element for optical waveguide devices. Since a Y-branch
provide advantages such as low excess loss, low wavelength dependent loss and low polarization
dependent loss, 1N splitters consisting of Y-branches [1]-[3] are now widely used for optical signal
distribution in passive optical networks. Directional coupler is the element which has two input ports
and two output ports, and is composed of two closely spaced waveguides. The working principle of
the coupler is based on the periodical optical power exchange that occurs between two adjacent
waveguides through the overlapping of the evanescent waves of the propagating modes. A passive
directional coupler measures forward and reflected power and facilitates determination of voltage
standing wave ratio (VSWR) and return loss. For that reason, it often is the key component in power
meters, antenna monitors, and analyzers.

With appropriate design, it is possible to develop a platform that enables precise relative
placement of components such that they are automatically aligned. This approach is commonly
referred to as passive alignment since components do not have to be powered nor their position
manipulated to achieve alignment. Passive alignment is the process of aligning two or more optical
components without actively monitoring the resulting output power. Contrasted with active
alignment, in which the power of the optical signal is maximized before the alignment is finalized. In
silicon, precise mechanical structures can be lithographically defined, which guide components into
place. Passive alignment could eventually be used to attach an optical pump directly to a silicon
laser. In essence, passive alignment utilizes a platform and components, each fabricate with
complementary features that enable precise placement of the components in designated positions on
the platform. These features may include solder bumps, mechanical features or optical fiducials.
Passive alignment is expected to lead to significant cost reduction for those applications that
are cost-sensitive. Although passive alignment technology is expected to be important for
individually packaged devices (such as pigtailed lasers), the impact will be even more profound as
optoelectronic modules incorporate more complicity or more functionality. For example, packaging
monolithic arrays of lasers or detectors requires the alignment of multiple fibers in addition to
electrical I/O placement. There is also a compelling need for passive alignment in complex
subsystem that incorporate a variety of optical elements, each requiring alignment, on a common
platform. Passive alignment enables the development of such subsystems using production assembly
techniques already developed in the electronics industry. Leveraging such techniques reduces cost
and encourages the use of optic in systems that otherwise might have been limited to purely
electronic solutions.

V CURRENT ISSUE
Current issue for passive photonic devices is about the development for its wavelength
demultiplexing, filtering, and routing. Besides, it is also regarding about improving the novel optical
properties such as photosensitivity or optical nonlinearities.
Passive photonic device can be developed as a low-cost optical component and device that
increase the capacity, versatility, and performance of fiber optic broadband network. Research on
optoelectronic circuits involves the design and production of high-speed, photodetector-based
optoelectronic circuits that can be used for high-speed switching and network monitoring. So, the
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semiconductor materials and structure use to produce passive photonic devices are being researched
so that it improve the performance and reliability while lower cost. Furthermore, the component
technologies also use to test, design and produce novel photonic devices based on dielectric and
polymer material.
On the other hand, research also focused in the photonic that has high photosensitivity in
optical waveguides and its use in fabrication of wide variety of passive devices. Wavelength Division
Multiplexing (WDM) is a technology which multiplexes a number of optical carrier signals onto a
single optical fiber by using different wavelengths (colours) of laser light. This technique enables
bidirectional communications over one strand of fiber, as well as multiplication of capacity. Optical
Add/Drop filters and chromatic dispersion compensation are the two key points in WDM.
The Add/Drop filter based on Mach-Zehnder interferometer and photo-induced Bragg
gratings which are the passive photonic devices act as a versatile filter used to add/drop individual
channels from a WDM transmission stream. Additionally, the chromatic dispersion compensation
uses long fiber Bragg gratings with variable periods to compensate for chromatic dispersion in fiber
at high data rates. So far, individual WDM channels are compensated separately. Longer Bragg
grating has to be improved so that WDM window can compensate at a time.

VI REFERENCES
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