Low-Power Operation in a Silicon Switch Based on an Asymmetric Mach–Zehnder Interferometer

Author

Sanchez, L. ; Griol, A. ; Lechago, S. ; Brimont, A. ; Sanchis, P.

Author_Institution

Nanophotonics Technol. Center, Univ. Politec. de Valencia, Valencia, Spain

Volume

7

Issue

2

fYear

2015

fDate

Apr-15

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

8

Abstract

Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) structures are widely used as optical switches in photonic integrated circuits. However, power consumption is still the key parameter to make such devices practical in the silicon platform, particularly for those based on the thermo-optic effect. A new approach to significantly decrease the power consumption of a silicon switch based on an asymmetric MZI, together with an optimum selection of the operation wavelengths, is proposed. A power consumption reduction up to 50% is experimentally demonstrated in agreement with simulation results.

Keywords

Mach-Zehnder interferometers; elemental semiconductors; integrated optics; optical switches; power consumption; silicon; Si; asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer; low-power operation; operation wavelengths; optical switches; optimum selection; power consumption; silicon switch; Bit error rate; Bit rate; Crosstalk; Insertion loss; Optical switches; Power demand; Integrated optics; optical switches; optical switches and silicon photonics; silicon photonics;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Journal, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1943-0655

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JPHOT.2015.2407317

Filename

7049377