Design of a low-loss thermo-optic switch

Author

Xu, K.J. ; Cai, H. ; Fang, Q. ; Lo, G.Q. ; Kwong, D.L. ; Liu, A.Q.

Author_Institution

Sch. of EEE, Nanyang Technol. Univ., Singapore, Singapore

fYear

2010

fDate

14-16 Dec. 2010

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

3

Abstract

Optical switches are important for applications in optical communications and photonic integrated circuits (PICs) to allow for selection of optical paths. In this work, a thermo-optic switch based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) is designed. A comparison and optimization of the switch components, including beam splitters, couplers and MZI, is carried out. A 1 × 2 switch using silicon nitride waveguides is designed with small footprint size, low insertion loss and high extinction ratio. The switch is compatible with CMOS fabrication technology, making it suitable for a wide range of applications.

Keywords

Mach-Zehnder interferometers; extinction coefficients; integrated optics; optical beam splitters; optical communication equipment; optical couplers; optical design techniques; optical switches; optical waveguides; optimisation; thermo-optical devices; CMOS fabrication technology; Mach-Zehnder interferometer; Si₃N₄; beam splitter; extinction ratio; insertion loss; low-loss thermooptic switch; optical communications; optical couplers; optical design; optical path selection; optimization; photonic integrated circuits; silicon nitride waveguides; Couplings; Insertion loss; Optical interferometry; Optical switches; Optical waveguides; Silicon compounds;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photonics Global Conference (PGC), 2010

Conference_Location

Singapore

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-9882-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PGC.2010.5706073

Filename

5706073