Piezoelectric actuation of silica-on-silicon waveguide devices

We demonstrate the feasibility of piezoelectric actuation of waveguide devices in silica-on-silicon. Relative to the commonly employed technique of thermal expansion by power dissipation in a resistive element, the piezo actuation drastically reduces drive-power consumption and improves switching time, from milliseconds to microseconds. We report experimental results using a discrete piezoelement, and discuss how the technique can be implemented with integrated technologies for the simultaneous fabrication of a large number of actuators on a wafer.