Ultrafast laser inscription of an integrated photonic lantern

We used ultrafast laser inscription to fabricate three-dimensional integrated optical transitions that efficiently couple light from a multimode waveguide to a two-dimensional array of single mode waveguides and back. Although the entire device has an average insertion loss of 5.7 dB at 1539 nm, only ˜0.7 dB is due to mode coupling losses. Based on an analysis which is presented in the paper, we expect that our device should convert a multimode input into an array of single modes with a loss of ˜2.0 dB, assuming the input coupling losses are zero. Such devices have applications in astrophotonics and remote sensing. © 2011 Optical Society of America.