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JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 39, NO.

7, APRIL 1, 2021 2077

Nonparaxial Mode-Size Converter Using an


Ultracompact Metamaterial Mikaelian Lens
Zunyue Zhang , Yeyu Tong , Student Member, IEEE, Yi Wang , and Hon Ki Tsang , Fellow, IEEE

Abstract—Mode-division multiplexing (MDM) is a promising power splitters have been reported for use in MDM systems
approach to increase data transmission capacity by using different [11]–[14].
modes as independent data channels. Intermodal crosstalk and Efficient and low-cost mode multiplexers for direct interface
coherent mode interference are detrimental to the performance
of an MDM system and should be avoided in the mode converters between multimode fibres and photonics integrated circuits, as
and mode expanders for MDM. The Mikaelian lens is well known a key building block in MDM system, have been previously
to be free from spherical aberrations and is therefore an excellent reported. Compared with the mode multiplexers based on free-
candidate for focusing high order waveguide modes which have space optics or fiber photonics lantern [15], [16], diffractive
main mode field distributions located off-axis. Here we proposed multimode waveguide grating couplers have the advantage of
an ultracompact mode-independent mode-size converter using an
integrated Mikaelian lens formed by refractive index engineering co-integration capability with other integrated photonics de-
using a subwavelength grating. The Mikaelian lens is fabricated vices and thus become a reliable and cost-effective approach
on the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform and can be used to for mode multiplexing [17], [18]. However, in the previous
convert the size of high order modes at the interface between the implementations of few mode grating couplers (FMGC) [18],
silicon waveguide and a multimode fiber in MDM systems. We a long adiabatic taper between the wide waveguide grating
present a proof-of-concept demonstration of a low loss spot size
converter for three transverse electric (TE) modes between a 14 µm coupler and the narrower multimode waveguide was needed
wide multimode waveguide grating coupler and a 1.56 µm wide for reducing the transition loss between the wide multimode
multimode silicon waveguide. The measured insertion loss of the grating coupler and the narrower silicon multimode waveguide.
Mikaelian lens mode size converter is 0.21 dB for TE0 mode, 0.26 Tapers with lengths of 400 μm were necessary to attain low
dB for TE1 mode and 0.28 dB for TE2 mode. 1-dB bandwidth of
losses in dual-mode devices [18], [19] and the tapers will become
all the three modes are about 60 nm. The 15 µm long Mikaelian
lens has comparable experimental performance as a 450 µm long even longer when additional higher order waveguide modes are
adiabatic taper. included in the MDM system. The length of the tapers cannot be
reduced without violating the adiabatic transition condition [20]
Index Terms—Mode division multiplexing, mode size converter,
mode-independent, ultracompact. and is an obstacle for the dense integration of the MDM system.
An on-chip arbitrary-mode spot size converter was recently
demonstrated by using on-chip 4-f system with the combination
I. INTRODUCTION of two lenses [21]. The implementation of the mode-independent
HE rise in data traffic is approaching the nonlinear Shannon mode size converter by a single lens is still of great attraction
T limit in the transmission capacity of conventional exist-
ing single mode fiber systems [1], [2], which are now fully
as the footprint of the device can be greatly reduced, which
makes it possible to be used in the newly developed multimode
exploiting the enhancement in capacity via advanced modu- waveguide grating couplers to obtain an ultracompact overall
lation formats [3], wavelength-division multiplexing [4], [5] footprint [18].
and polarization-division multiplexing [6], [7]. Mode-division Developed from Maxwell’s fish-eye lens by conformal trans-
multiplexing (MDM) is a promising approach to attain yet formation optics, Mikaelian lens is inherently free of spherical
higher data transmission capacities [8]–[10]. Multimode de- aberrations [22]–[24], and thus off-centre light has the same fo-
vices such as waveguide bendings, waveguide crossings and cus as paraxial light. Such a property makes it suitable to serve as
mode-independent mode-size converters in planar waveguides,
Manuscript received October 7, 2020; revised December 7, 2020 and De- in which the off-axis portion of high order waveguide modes can
cember 21, 2020; accepted December 22, 2020. Date of publication December be brought to the same focus, as illustrated in Fig. 1(a). Integrated
24, 2020; date of current version April 2, 2021. This work was supported
by Hong Kong Research Grants Council GRF Project under Grant 14203620. Mikaelian lens was previously demonstrated by fabricating the
(Corresponding author: Hon Ki Tsang.) required nonuniform refractive index profile by changing the
The authors are with the Department of Electronic Engineering, The thickness of the waveguide [25].
Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR,
China (e-mail: zyzhang@link.cuhk.edu.hk; yytong_ee@link.cuhk.edu.hk; Subwavelength gratings are periodic structures with pitches
yiwang@link.cuhk.edu.hk; hktsang@ee.cuhk.edu.hk). satisfying Λ<λ/2nB , where Λ is the pitch of subwavelength
This article has supplementary material provided by the authors and color grating, λ is wavelength and nB is Bloch mode effective index
versions of one or more figures available at https://doi.org/10.1109/JLT.2020.
3047118. [26]. By adjusting the filling factor of the subwavelength grat-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JLT.2020.3047118 ing, effective refractive index of a material can be engineered

0733-8724 © 2020 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See https://www.ieee.org/publications/rights/index.html for more information.

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2078 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 39, NO. 7, APRIL 1, 2021

Fig. 1. (a) Schematic of the mode-independent mode-size converter using subwavelength Mikaelian lens. (b) Schematic of the ultracompact few mode grating
coupler (FMGC) with subwavelength Mikaelian lens.

and thus provide a practical approach to construct any desired II. METHODOLOGY
refractive index profile. Subwavelength grating structures have
The refractive index profile of a Mikaelian lens was devel-
been widely exploited in integrated photonics components, such oped from Maxwell’s fisheye lens by conformal mapping. The
as grating couplers, waveguide crossings, multimode interfer- schematic of a Maxwell’s fisheye lens is illustrated in Fig. 2(a).
ometers, polarization splitters and any other passive functional
Any light rays launched from one rim of the sphere (point A)
elements [27]–[30]. The graded refractive index (GRIN) lens will be focused by the lens to the opposite rim (point B) without
with parabolic index profile was previously demonstrated as spherical aberrations, vice versa. Its index profile follows n(u,v)
mode-size converters for the fundamental transverse electric
= n0 /(1 + u2 + v2 ), where n0 is the refractive index in the center
(TE0 ) mode using subwavelength grating structures [31], [32]. and (u,v) is the spatial coordinate in a two-dimensional space
However, the spherical aberration problem in GRIN lens un-
w = u + iv. By applying an exponential conformal mapping
avoidably introduces wavefront distortion at the focusing plane,
w = eβz , the original w space was mapped to a new space z
which becomes even more obvious for higher order waveguide = x + iy. When the refractive index profile in the new space
modes and degrades their performance in MDM systems. We
satisfies n(x,y) = | dw/dz | ·n(u,v), light rays will follow the
recently proposed the subwavelength engineered Mikaelian lens
same loci as in the Maxwell’s fisheye lens, a Mikaelian lens
and demonstrated its use in 2.3 μm wavelength region [33]. was thus formed, as illustrated in Fig. 2(b). The refractive index
Here we show that the subwavelength engineered Mikaelian
profile of a Mikaelian lens follows:
lens could be used at shorter wavelength in MDM optical
communications. n(z) = n1 /cosh(βz) (1)
In this paper, for the first time, an ultracompact mode-
independent mode size converter was implemented by Mikaelian where n1 = n0· β/2.
lens with the subwavelength grating structure for efficient focus- To build such a refractive index profile with subwavelength
ing of different orders of waveguide modes. The fabricated de- grating structure, the center of the subwavelength Mikaelian
vice had measured normalized insertion loss of 0.21 dB for TE0 lens is assigned with the maximum effective index nmax and
mode, 0.26 dB for the first order transverse electric (TE1 ) mode the edges of the lens are assigned with the minimum effective
and 0.28 dB for the second order transverse electric (TE2 ) mode. index nmin , i.e., n(0) = nmax , n(w/2) = n(−w/2) = nmin , where
The 1-dB bandwidth of the spot size converter is about 60 nm. w is the width of Mikaelian lens. With these boundary values
As a proof-of-concept demonstration of the mode-independent fixed, n1 in (1) is thus equal to nmax and β is calculated to be
focusing property of the subwavelength Mikaelian lens, an arccosh(nmax /nmin )/(w/2). The width of the Mikaelian lens in
ultracompact FMGC was designed and fabricated, in which this work is fixed to be 14 μm to keep consistent with the mode
two linear polarized (LP) modes: LP01 mode and LP11 mode filed diameter of FMF used in the experiment. The maximum
from a two-mode graded-index few mode fiber (FMF) were and minimum effective index nmax and nmin used in the design
coupled through the waveguide grating coupler and focused are 2.256 and 3.016, respectively. Fig. 2(c) shows the effective
by the subwavelength Mikaelian lens to the much narrower index profile of the designed Mikaelian lens. The design of
multimode silicon waveguide, as illustrated in Fig. 1(b). The the subwavelength grating follows the second order effective
designed FMGC showed comparable coupling efficiencies with medium theory (EMT) [34], [35]. (see supplementary materials
the case using adiabatic tapers for both TE0 and TE1 modes, for comparison between the effective indices calculated by EMT
while the footprint was reduced by 15-fold. and by the photonic band structure). Here we fixed the pitch

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ZHANG et al.: NONPARAXIAL MODE-SIZE CONVERTER 2079

Fig. 2. (a) Schematic of Maxwell’s fisheye lens in u-v space. (b) Schematic of Mikaelian lens in x-y space. (c) Effective index profile of Mikaelian lens. (d)
Filling factor profile of the subwavelength grating Mikaelian lens. (e) Effective index of the subwavelength grating structure calculated from second order EMT
with fixed grating pitch of 240 nm and filling factor varied from 0.3 to 0.7. (f) Schematic of the subwavelength Mikaelian lens with the subwavelength taper.

Λlens of the subwavelength grating as 240 nm and varied the index profile of the subwavelength GRIN lens is illustrated in
filling factor flens (defined by the proportion of silicon width Fig. 3(h). The simulation results of GRIN lens show obvious
with respect to the grating period) continuously from 0.3 to mode-dependent conversion efficiency. The insertion loss of TE4
0.7, the corresponding effective index of the subwavelength mode in the GRIN lens is 0.7 dB higher than in the Mikaelian
grating calculated from the second order EMT is shown in lens and the inter-modal crosstalk is 1.6 dB higher, as shown
Fig. 2(e). The effective index profile of the Mikaelian lens is in Fig. 3(g). Furthermore, longer lengths are needed (8.5 μm)
thus transferred to the filling factor profile as shown in Fig. 2(d). for GRIN lens compared with the Mikaelian lens (7.5 μm). The
The structure of the subwavelength Mikaelian lens can thus length of the Mikaelian lens was optimized to obtain the highest
be constructed based on the one-to-one space-to-filling-factor mode size conversion efficiency at the center wavelength of
mapping. The schematic of the subwavelength Mikaelian lens 1510 nm, as shown in Fig. 3(i). The optimal lens length increases
is shown in Fig. 2(f). Subwavelength taper was added at the front slightly at longer center wavelength due to the dispersion in the
end of the Mikaelian lens to reduce the reflection loss caused by subwavelength Mikaelian lens. (see supplementary materials).
the effective index mismatch between the subwavelength lens The fabrication tolerance of the Mikaelian lens was evaluated in
and the channel waveguide. The width and the length of the the simulation by adding 20 nm random width variations into the
subwavelength taper wtaper and ltaper were optimized to be silicon ridges in both x and y directions. The widths of the silicon
2.5 μm and 3.6 μm, respectively to minimize the loss whilst ridges in x and y directions are given by wx = w0x + γ x ·Δw and
keep the device compact. wy = w0y + γ y ·Δw where w0x and w0y are the original widths
of the silicon ridges in x and y directions, Δw equals 20 nm
and γ x and γ y are random numbers between 0 and 1. The mesh
III. DESIGN AND SIMULATIONS size used in the simulation is 4 nm. The simulation results are
The mode size conversion was simulated with three- also shown in Fig. 3(i) with dash lines. The simulation results
dimensional finite difference time domain (3D-FDTD) method. show that at the optimized lens length of 7.5 μm, 20 nm random
Back-to-back transmission of the five lowest orders of trans- silicon ridge width variations only add 0.07 dB loss to TE0 mode,
verse electric waveguide modes (TE0 , TE1 , TE2 , TE3 and 0.015 dB loss to TE1 mode and 0.002 dB to TE2 mode, which
TE4 ) were simulated. The simulated optical fields are shown in illustrates the robustness of the design to fabrication errors.
Fig. 3(a)–(e). Inset shows the mode profiles at the output ports. The subwavelength Mikaelian lens mode size converter is
The transmission spectra of different orders of waveguide modes polarization dependent due to the birefringence in the sub-
in the metamaterial Mikaelian lens are shown in Fig. 3(f). The wavelength grating waveguides. The different effective in-
mode size conversion efficiencies of all the five modes are above dices of transverse electric (TE) modes and transverse mag-
95% and 1-dB bandwidth are over 90 nm. The inter-modal netic (TM) modes produces different focal lengths. However,
crosstalk is less than −22 dB at the center wavelength. The since waveguide grating couplers are usually designed to op-
same simulation method was applied to simulate the mode size erate with a single polarization, the polarization dependence
conversion of the GRIN lens as a comparison. The refractive of the subwavelength Mikaelian lens will not introduce any

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2080 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 39, NO. 7, APRIL 1, 2021

Fig. 3. 3D FDTD simulated optical field of the back to back subwavelength Mikaelian lens for (a) TE0, (b) TE1, (c) TE2, (d) TE3 and (e) TE4 mode. Inset
shows the mode profiles at the output ports. (f) Transmission spectra of the five waveguide modes and inter-modal crosstalk in the metamaterial Mikaelian lens
and (g) Transmission spectra of the five waveguide modes and inter-modal crosstalk in the GRIN lens. (h) Effective index profile of the GRIN lens. (i) Simulated
transmission of TE0, TE1 and TE2 modes with different lens lengths. The simulation results when 20 nm random silicon ridge width variations were added are
shown in dash line.

Fig. 4. (a) Microscope image of the six-port device. SEM image of (b) ADC mode multiplexer and (c) half of the subwavelength Mikaelian lens mode size
converter with subwavelength taper at the front. Experimental insertion loss and crosstalk of (d) TE0 mode, (e) TE1 mode and (f) TE2 mode. (g) Microscope
image of the FMGC /Mikaelian lens. (h) SEM image of the FMGC /Mikaelian lens. (i) Microscope image of the FMGC /adiabatic taper. (j) Experimental coupling
efficiency of FMGC integrated with Mikaelian lens and integrated with adiabatic taper. Mode field of (k) LP01 mode and (l) LP11 mode from FMF captured by
infrared camera. (m) Experimental transmission of the two ADC mode multiplexers.

additional polarization dependent loss to single polarization Dry reactive-ion etching was then applied to etch through the
grating couplers. top silicon layer. PMMA was finally coated above the device as
As a basic demonstration of the mode independent mode cladding layer. Two pairs of back-to-back Mikaelian lens were
size converter, a metamaterial Mikaelian lens for three lowest fabricated. The microscope image of the six-port device is shown
order transverse electric modes (TE0 , TE1 and TE2 modes) was in Fig. 4(a). TE0 mode launched from port # 2 kept TE0 mode
designed and fabricated. The pitch of the subwavelength grating transmission. TE0 mode launched from port # 3 and port # 1
was 240 nm. To ensure the fabricability of the subwavelength were excited to TE1 mode TE2 mode, respectively. Asymmetric
structure, the filling factor used in our experiment varied from directional couplers (ADC) were designed as mode multiplexers
0.4 to 0.7, and the minimum silicon ridge size was thus 96 nm. to excite TE1 mode and TE2 mode in the multimode waveguide.
The schematic of ADC is shown in the inset of Fig. 5(b). The
w1 , w2 , w3 used for exciting TE1 mode are 1.08 μm, 0.98
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS μm and 0.5 μm. The gap between two waveguides is 100 nm
The device was fabricated on SOI wafer with 250 nm thick and the coupling length lc is 27 μm. The w1 , w2 , w3 used for
top silicon layer. The mask was defined by E-beam lithography. exciting TE2 mode are 1.61 μm, 1.51 μm and 0.5 μm. The gap is

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ZHANG et al.: NONPARAXIAL MODE-SIZE CONVERTER 2081

Fig. 5. 3D FDTD simulation results of (a) the coupling efficiency of the apodised grating coupler for both TE0 mode and TE1 mode, (b) coupling efficiencies
of ADC mode multiplexers from TE0 mode to TE1 mode and from TE1 mode to TE2 mode in the multimode waveguide. Inset shows the schematic of ADC.

100 nm and the coupling length lc is 30 μm. 3D FDTD simulated mode and TE1 mode. The simulated coupling efficiencies are
coupling efficiencies of the two ADC are shown in Fig. 5(b). shown in Fig. 5(a).
All the three waveguide modes passed through the two pairs The designed FMGC was fabricated on the same platform.
of back-to-back subwavelength Mikaelian lens. The output TE0 The microscope image of the device is shown in Fig. 4(g). The
mode, TE1 mode and TE2 mode were collected from port # 5, SEM image of the FMGC is shown in Fig. 4(h). The output light
# 4 and # 6, respectively. The SEM image of the subwavelength from FMGC was coupled into the two-mode graded-index FMF
Mikaelian lens before PMMA coated is shown in Fig. 4(c). with mode field diameter of 11 μm. The normalized coupling
The SEM image of the ADC mode multiplexer is shown efficiency of the FMGC for TE0 mode and TE1 mode are shown
in Fig. 4(b). in Fig. 4(j). TE0 mode had −7.6 dB coupling efficiency at 1530
The insertion loss of the metamaterial Mikaelian lens was nm and TE1 mode had −8.4 dB coupling efficiency at 1522 nm.
characterized by measuring the fiber-waveguide-fiber insertion Experimental 3-dB bandwidth of the two modes were both about
loss. Light from tunable laser was coupled into the chip through 50 nm. As the Mikaelian lens mode size converter has wider
a single mode fiber and the waveguide grating coupler. Output bandwidth than the apodised grating coupler, the bandwidth of
light was coupled from waveguide grating coupler to the single FMGC is mainly limited by the apodised grating and the central
mode fiber and sent to the optical power meter for measuring wavelength is also dominated by the apodised grating. The mode
the output optical power. The normalized insertion loss and field of LP01 mode and LP11 mode from the FMF were captured
inter-mode crosstalk of the metamaterial Mikaelian lens for by the infrared camera with a 40 × lens to confirm that the LP01
TE0 mode, TE1 mode and TE2 mode are shown in Fig. 4(d), mode and LP11 mode were selectively launched from TE0 and
(e), (f), respectively. TE0 mode had 0.21 dB insertion loss and TE1 waveguide mode. The mode fields of the two modes are
−13.5 dB inter-modal crosstalk at 1512 nm. The insertion loss shown in Fig. 4(k) and (l). We experimentally compared the
of TE1 mode was 0.26 dB and the inter-modal crosstalk was performance of our designed FMGC with Mikaelian lens mode
−15.3 dB at 1496 nm. TE2 mode had 0.28 dB insertion loss and size converter and the FMGC with 450 μm adiabatic taper. The
−16.5 dB crosstalk at 1499 nm. The spectral ripples in Fig. 4(j) same design of apodised grating for the FMGC was used in both
are produced by the back reflections from the subwavelength cases. The microscope image of the FMGC by linear taper is
Mikaelian lens and the grating couplers (See supplementary shown in Fig. 4(i). The tapered FMGC was measured with the
materials). The 1-dB bandwidths of all the three modes were same experiment setup. The coupling efficiency of TE0 mode
around 60 nm, which are limited by the dispersion in the lens. was −7.4 dB at 1525 nm and the coupling efficiency of TE1
The footprint of the metamaterial Mikaelian lens mode size mode was −7.8 dB at 1531 nm, which is also shown in Fig. 4(j).
converter is 15 μm × 14 μm. For TE0 mode, the FMGC with Mikaelian lens has 0.2 dB excess
The TE0 mode and TE1 mode in the SOI waveguide can insertion loss, which was measured experimentally for the TE0
selectively excite the LP01 mode and LPl1 mode in the FMF mode. For TE1 mode, the excess insertion loss in the FMGC
by a single FMGC. We designed an apodised grating coupler with Mikaelian lens was measured to be 0.6 dB. Other than the
with metamaterial Mikaelian lens as the mode size converter. 0.26 dB excess insertion loss from the subwavelength Mikaelian
The apodised grating was optimized to maximize the coupling lens, we estimate there to be 0.34 dB excess loss from fabrication
efficiency. The etched groove width ΛGC (1−fGC ) was fixed to inaccuracies of the grating couplers. A 7.5 nm width variation
be 500 nm, where ΛGC is the pitch of the apodised grating of the grating lines can cause 0.35 dB higher insertion loss and
and fGC is the filling factor of the apodised grating defined by 10 nm center wavelength shift.
the proportion of silicon ridge width with respect to the grating The FMGC integrated with the metamaterial Mikaelian lens
period. The pitch of each grating period ΛGC was optimized one mode size converter has comparable experimental coupling ef-
by one. The optimized ΛGC (μm) used were 1.31, 1.3, 1.3, 1.34, ficiency and 3-dB bandwidth as the FMGC integrated with the
1.39, 1.35, 1.36, 1.29, 2.31, 2.08, 1.4. 3D FDTD simulations conventional adiabatic taper for both modes, while the chip area
were applied to simulate the coupling efficiency of both TE0 occupied is 15-fold less than the adiabatic taper FMGC. The

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2082 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 39, NO. 7, APRIL 1, 2021

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ZHANG et al.: NONPARAXIAL MODE-SIZE CONVERTER 2083

Zunyue Zhang received the B.S. degree in physics from Nankai University, Yi Wang received the B.S. degree from the University of Electronic Science of
Tianjin, China, in 2017. She is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree Technology, Chengdu, China, in 2014. She is currently working toward the Ph.D.
with the Department of Electronic Engineering, The Chinese University of degree with the Department of Electronic Engineering, The Chinese University
Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong. Her current research interests include silicon of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong. Her current research interests include silicon
photonics, integrated spectrometers, and optical coherence tomography systems. photonics and hybrid integration of 2D materials.

Hon Ki Tsang (Fellow, IEEE) received the Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) degree in
engineering and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Cambridge, Cambridge,
U.K. In 1993, he joined The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong
Kong. He was the Chairman of the Department of Electronic Engineering
Yeyu Tong (Student Member, IEEE) received the B.S. degree from the Uni- from 2010 to 2016 and he is currently the Associate Dean (Research) of the
versity of Electronic Science of Technology, Chengdu, China, in 2016, and the Faculty of Engineering. He has authored or coauthored about 400 papers in
Ph.D. degree in electronic engineering from the Chinese University of Hong journals and conference proceedings. His research interests include photonic
Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, in 2020. He has authored and coauthored more integrated circuits, silicon photonics, nonlinear waveguides, hybrid integration
than 40 papers in technical journals and international conferences. His current of two-dimensional materials, optical communications, and integrated quantum
research interests include silicon photonic integrated circuits, high-speed optical photonics. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE JOURNAL OF QUAN-
interconnects, and advanced modulation formats for optical communications. TUM ELECTRONICS. He is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America.

Authorized licensed use limited to: Universidad Autonoma de Baja California. Downloaded on March 25,2021 at 01:32:22 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

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