Low-power compact 2×2 thermooptic silica-on-silicon waveguide switch with fast response

Author

Lai, Q. ; Hunziker, W. ; Melchior, H.

Author_Institution

Inst. for Quantum Electron., Fed. Inst. of Technol., Zurich, Switzerland

Volume

10

Issue

5

fYear

1998

fDate

5/1/1998 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

681

Lastpage

683

Abstract

5-mm-long and 50-μm-wide thermooptic waveguide 2×2 Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) switches with multimode interference (MMI) couplers have been realized in silica-on-silicon. The use of diffused square waveguides with a separating trench results in low heating power of 110 mW for /spl pi/ phase shift and short rise and fall times of 150 and 180 μs, respectively.

Keywords

Mach-Zehnder interferometers; elemental semiconductors; integrated optics; optical couplers; optical fabrication; optical fibre communication; optical losses; optical switches; optical waveguide components; silicon; silicon compounds; silicon-on-insulator; thermo-optical effects; /spl pi/ phase shift; 110 mW; 150 mus; 180 mus; 2/spl times/2 thermooptic switch; 5 mm; 50 mum; Mach-Zehnder interferometer switches; SiO/sub 2/-Si; SiO/sub 2/-on-Si waveguide switch; diffused square waveguides; fall times; fast response; low heating power; low-power compact thermooptic switch; multimode interference couplers; rise times; separating trench; thermooptic waveguide 2/spl times/2 Mach-Zehnder interferometer switches; waveguide switch; Cogeneration; Couplers; Etching; Heating; Interference; Optical fiber polarization; Optical interferometry; Optical switches; Optical waveguide components; Optical waveguides;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/68.669248

Filename

669248