Abstract: The invention relates to a method of manufacturing an optical component (800). It also relates to a branching unit and to a method of reducing insertion loss in an optical branching unit. It further relates to a method of reducing stress induced polarization effects in spaced planar waveguides (e.g. couplers) and stress induced tilting of the cores due to strain fields introduced by the top-cladding. It also relates to a method for filling high-aspect-ratio structures with material during reflow. The present invention proposes the use of additional structural elements such as transversal elements (850) connected to or pads (840, 841) or elongate elements located in the vicinity of ordinary waveguide core sections (801, 802). The additional structural elements are typically formed in the same processing step as the ordinary waveguide core sections.

Abstract: An integrated photonic crystal (IPC) structure and method of producing the same in which the IPC structure includes a first layered sub-structure with a surface and a one-dimensional periodic refractive index variation along the direction perpendicular to the surface, and a second sub-structure with a plurality of essentially straight identical passages arranged in a two-dimensional periodic pattern cutting through the layered structure at an angle ?. First and second defects in the first and second sub-structures, respectively, enable electromagnetic modes to be localized in the vicinity of the defects and allow photonic crystal waveguide to be constructed that can control and filter light very efficiently and minimize radiation losses.