Optimization and Performance Analysis of 1×2 and 1×4 MMI Splitters on a Polymer Platform for Board-Level Optical Interconnects

Optimization and Performance Analysis of 1×2 and 1×4 MMI Splitters on a Polymer Platform for Board-Level Optical Interconnects | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Optimization and Performance Analysis of 1×2 and 1×4 MMI Splitters on a Polymer Platform for Board-Level Optical Interconnects Nazmus Shakib Lalin, Zarin Tasnim Nijhum, Miss Nourin Nurain Amina, and 4 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8847414/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Polymer waveguides are promising for short-reach, board-level optical interconnects due to low-loss propagation and fabrication compatibility. This work presents the design, beam-propagation-method (BPM) simulation, and optimization of step-index polymer multimode-interference (MMI) splitters with 1×2 and 1×4 configurations at λ = 1550 nm. The devices are modeled in RSoft BeamPROP using SUNCONNECT organic–inorganic hybrid polymers (core: NP001L2, n = 1.573; cladding: NP216, n = 1.560). Geometrical parameters of the multimode section and access/output interfaces, including WMMI, LMMI, taper dimensions, and port spacing, are refined via parametric sweeps to obtain clean self-imaging with low loss and uniform splitting. The optimized 1×2 splitter achieves 50%/50% power splitting with excess loss of 0.67 dB (TE) and 0.65 dB (TM) and polarization-dependent loss of 0.02 dB. The optimized 1×4 splitter provides near-uniform splitting (25.05%, 24.95%, 24.95%, 25.05%) with excess loss of 0.33 dB (TE) and 0.34 dB (TM) and polarization-dependent loss of 0.01 dB. These results indicate that compact polymer MMI splitters can provide low-loss and scalable passive fan-out for board-level optical routing. Photonics/optics Computational Physics Polymer waveguides multimode interference (MMI) optical power splitters beam propagation method (BPM) step-index waveguides RSoft BeamPROP board-level optical interconnects Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8847414","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":589400634,"identity":"85f4696b-08d2-4066-8e7a-6bd0ec5ed29f","order_by":0,"name":"Nazmus Shakib Lalin","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5460-0506","institution":"Physics Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna-9208, Bangladesh","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nazmus","middleName":"Shakib","lastName":"Lalin","suffix":""},{"id":589400635,"identity":"30b31bd9-61f6-418e-a7e4-48c4f9391336","order_by":1,"name":"Zarin Tasnim Nijhum","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Physics Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna-9208, Bangladesh","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zarin","middleName":"Tasnim","lastName":"Nijhum","suffix":""},{"id":589400636,"identity":"a9845a09-01fc-4b65-80ce-5284aeabd0af","order_by":2,"name":"Miss Nourin Nurain Amina","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Physics Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna-9208, Bangladesh","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Miss","middleName":"Nourin Nurain","lastName":"Amina","suffix":""},{"id":589400637,"identity":"c62c5e18-32ea-4cf9-a935-2c3a7ba6ea1d","order_by":3,"name":"Shirazum Monira","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shirazum","middleName":"","lastName":"Monira","suffix":""},{"id":589400638,"identity":"6900d63e-e678-4a49-9ba4-1951842ff6db","order_by":4,"name":"Tonmoy Malakar","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tonmoy","middleName":"","lastName":"Malakar","suffix":""},{"id":589400639,"identity":"9b2ceaa6-4fe2-452a-b0b7-88411e897a28","order_by":5,"name":"Md. 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This work presents the design, beam-propagation-method (BPM) simulation, and optimization of step-index polymer multimode-interference (MMI) splitters with \u003c/em\u003e1×2\u003cem\u003e and \u003c/em\u003e1×4\u003cem\u003e configurations at λ = 1550 nm. The devices are modeled in RSoft BeamPROP using SUNCONNECT organic–inorganic hybrid polymers (core: NP001L2, n = 1.573; cladding: NP216, n = 1.560). Geometrical parameters of the multimode section and access/output interfaces, including WMMI, LMMI, taper dimensions, and port spacing, are refined via parametric sweeps to obtain clean self-imaging with low loss and uniform splitting. The optimized \u003c/em\u003e1×2\u003cem\u003e splitter achieves 50%/50% power splitting with excess loss of 0.67 dB (TE) and 0.65 dB (TM) and polarization-dependent loss of 0.02 dB. 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