Polarization Insensitive Asymmetric Ridge Waveguide Design for Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers and Super Luminescent Light-Emitting Diodes

A polarization-insensitive waveguide design featuring a novel asymmetric ridge structure is proposed. This design relaxes former stringent constraints imposed on material compositions (i.e., refractive indices) and geometrical dimensions in an attempt to reach low polarization sensitivity over a broad wavelength operating range. In conjunction with a bulk active region with an isotropic gain, such a design is highly desirable for its potential to eliminate the polarization dependence of the optical gain in semiconductor optical amplifiers or output power in super luminescent light-emitting diodes.