Compact Thermally Tunable Silicon Wavelength Switch

A wavelength selective photonic switch is developed based on a Si microring resonator using thermo-optic effect. The 10 mum-diameter microring resonator uses single-mode strip Si waveguides of dimension 0.25 mum x 0.45 mum operating at 1.5 mum. Full-width-half- maximum are in the range 0.1-0.2 nm. Ultra wide tunable range (>6.4 nm) was demonstrated. Average rise delay time of 14 mus with low switching power of 3.15 mW has been achieved with 0.2 nm wavelength tuning and 78 mus, 104 mW for 6.4 nm tuning. Input power was observed to have an effect on the tuning time.