We fabricated a tunable and polarization-insensitive arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) 1616 multiplexer that operates around the wavelength of 1. 55 µm using fluorinated polyimides. The wavelength channel spacing was 0. 8 nm, and the 3-dB passband width was 0. 26 nm. The insertion loss at each channel was from 8 to 12 dB, and the crosstalk was less than -28 dB. The transmission pass wavelength was tuned over a wide range of 6 nm by heating from 24 to 64. The slope of the temperature dependence of the pass wavelength was -0. 15 nm/, which is ten times that of a silica-based multiplexer. Polarization-insensitivity was achieved by fabricating a film AWG multiplexer, which was formed by removing the silicon substrate and annealing at 350. The polarization-dependent wavelength shift was smaller than the spectrum analyzers wavelength resolution of 0. 1 nm.

Fabrication of all-epitaxial high-Tc SIS tunnel junctions requires an atomically flat superconducting thin film to be grown and a proper insulating material to be selected. First, we study the initial growth mode of YBCO thin films and show that reducing the growth rate results in a very smooth surface. Second, perovskite-related compound oxides, PrGaO3 and NdGaO3, which have a small lattice mismatch with YBCO and good wetability, are shown to be promising insulating materials for all-epitaxial SIS tunnel junctions. We believe that these concepts will be useful in the development of all-epitaxial high-Tc SIS tunnel junctions with good electrical properties.

We have developed a wavelength-swept laser source with ultrahigh phase stability. A potassium tantalate niobate (KTa1-xNbxO3, KTN) single crystal was employed as an electro-optic deflector for a high-speed wavelength sweep in the laser cavity. The device structure and performance of a KTN deflector is described. The device includes the beam-shaping optics, which can enhance the resolution of a KTN deflector. A 200-kHz sweep rate was obtained with an average output power of 20mW and a coherence length of 8mm for a wavelength range exceeding 100nm. We demonstrated a swept source with ultrahigh phase stability in the 1.3µm wavelength range as a result of the low-jitter operation of the deflector. The standard deviation of timing jitters measured between adjacent A-lines was confirmed to be less than 78ps, which corresponds to a phase difference of 0.017 radians at a Michelson interferometer path difference of 1.5mm. In addition to realizing the phase stability of neighboring A-lines, a long-term stable sweep was demonstrated by eliminating the refresh operation that was previously needed to prevent output power decay.