An ultra-small heterostructure wavelength division multiplexer (WDM) with the ability to select two wavelengths from the s-band

In this article, a photonic crystal channel drop filter (CDF) based on \(2\times 3\) ring resonators is presented. At first, the effects of changing the radius of lattice rods and the lattice dielectric constant on the dropping efficiency of a 3-port CDF with one resonator are investigated. Then by developing this base structure, a new 4-port heterostructure CDF composed of two regions with rods made of silicone and germanium is presented, which can operate in the ‘S’ band of the communication window. The photonic crystal heterostructure CDF consists of a horizontal waveguide and two ring resonators that have been installed, in symmetry to the horizontal axis, in two regions with different refractive indices. These ring resonators act as energy couplers and capture at their resonant frequencies the electromagnetic energy which is propagated in the bus waveguide. For the analysis of transmission characteristics and the band structure of the filter, two methods have been employed: the two-dimensional Finite–difference time domain method and the Plane Wave Expansion method. In the final structure, dropping efficiencies of 97 and 89 % can be achieved at ports D and B, respectively, and also an acceptable quality factor can be obtained in the communication window. The overall size of this device is 174.14 \(\upmu \hbox {m}^{2}\). Due to its small size, this structure can be used in Wavelength Division Multiplexer applications in the Optical Integrated Circuits.