Fully packaged polymeric four arrayed 2 x 2 digital optical switch

A fully packaged polymeric four arrayed 2/spl times/2 digital optical switch is fabricated. Crosslinkable fluorinated polymers with a large thermooptic coefficient and a low loss are used for a low electrical power consumption and a low insertion loss. We improve the uniformity, crosstalk, and insertion loss with introducing a rib waveguide, a channel waveguide, and a tapered waveguide in the polymeric four arrayed 2/spl times/2 digital optical switch. The deviation of crosstalks is /spl plusmn/2 dB at 250 mW. The crosstalks are less than -30 dB for all four 2/spl times/2 digital optical switch elements with each total electrical power of 250 mW. The fall and rise times are less than 5 ms. The polarization-dependent losses are in the range of 0.2-0.7 dB. The total insertion losses range from 3.5 to 4.0 dB.