Abstract
A novel silica waveguide lens is proposed for use in free-space optical cross connects. It comprises a core-cladding stripe structure that acts as a phase modulator in the lens region. Beam propagation method (BPM) simulation results show that the phase is greatly similar to the approximated profile calculated by ray tracing. However, higher modes due to the rough lens profile leads to energy loss of below 0.8dB. Further losses are expected from scattering due to the elimination of vertical beam confinement. The collimator also shows low wavelength and polarization dependence.
