Patent attributes
The present disclosure provides a polarization attenuator and a polarization attenuation method to solve the problem of polarization dependent loss of optical devices, or to be used in optical devices or systems as a polarizer structure. The polarization attenuator comprises a first main waveguide, an offset waveguide and a second main waveguide which are arranged in sequence, wherein an output surface of the first main waveguide partially overlaps an input surface of the offset waveguide; an output surface of the offset waveguide partially overlaps an input surface of the second main waveguide; the first main waveguide or the second main waveguide supports fundamental modes and supports at least one high order mode. Meanwhile, the present disclosure further provides the polarization attenuation method comprising following steps: 1) optical signals enter the first main waveguide; 2) the optical signals excite high order modes at a joint of the first main waveguide and the offset waveguide; and 3) the signals are mixed again at a joint of the second main waveguide and the offset waveguide, and power between a fundamental mode and high order modes of the offset waveguide is redistributed between the fundamental mode and the high order mode of the second main waveguide.
