Highly Efficient Polarization-Insensitive Grating Couplers on Thin-Film Lithium Niobate with an Integrated Gold Layer

The thin-film lithium niobate platform, which is emerging as a promising photonic integration platform, currently lacks a polarization-insensitive grating coupler (GC), a crucial component for polarization-independent fiber interfaces. This limitation restricts its use in many applications such as polarization-insensitive modulation systems and polarization management. In this study, we propose a polarization-insensitive nonuniform GC, achieved by intersecting optimal TE- and TM-mode grating periods. Based on our simulation results, the proposed design delivers a coupling efficiency (CE) of 80% for TE and 78.5% for TM polarization, with a polarization-dependent loss of less than 0.14 dB at a wavelength of 1550 nm. The inserted gold layer, i.e., inside the substrate layer, boosts the CEs of the optimal TE- and TM-mode GC by about 50%, resulting in a highly efficient, polarization-insensitive solution. This advancement enables on-chip polarization diversity applications on the thin-film lithium niobate platform. We also investigate the fabrication and alignment tolerances of the proposed design to ensure robust performance under practical conditions.