A 2 × 2 nonblocking Mach–Zehnder-based silicon switch matrix

Abstract

A 2 × 2 non-blocking switch matrix based on the Mach-Zehnder (MZ) interferometer was designed and fabricated on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer through 0.8-μm standard commercial CMOS foundry. The two paired multimode-imaging (MMI) couplers in each MZ switching element were used as power splitters and combiners. Experimental results show that the switching elements are electrically driven with a switching speed of 17.4 ns and its cross-talk is lower than -16.1 dB under a common spectral bandwidth of 35 nm. The total switching power consumption varies from 4.55 mW to 22.4 mW for different switching paths.

Optical Temperature Sensor Based on Polysilicon Waveguides

“…Nowadays, most silicon photonic devices and circuits are demonstrated on the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform [ 14 , 15 , 16 ]. Crystalline silicon (c-Si) is the most widely used material due to its low optical losses and excellent electronic properties [ 17 ].…”

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

“…MZI-based optical switches using the TO effect feature high efficiency but usually require their power consumption to be reduced in order to ensure low power operation. Recent works showing a 4 Â 4 switch with a power consumption below 20.4 mW for a bandwidth per port of 40 Gbps [9], a 2 Â 2 non-blocking switch matrix based on MZI with a total power consumption which varies from 4.55 mW to 22.4 mW, depending on the switching state and physical path [11], a Mach-Zehnder-based five-port silicon router with a consumed power of 25 mW [13], or a Mach-Zehnder-based four port switching module with a power consumption from 9 mW to 42.6 mW [10] have been demonstrated.…”

Fast and efficient silicon thermo-optic switching based on reverse breakdown of pn junction

“…Thermo-optic and plasma dispersion based electro-optic effects are two common methods used for silicon optical switching. Although switches with fast operation time of a few nanoseconds have been demonstrated based on the plasma dispersion effect [8,9], they suffer from large footprint and degenerated crosstalk due to the relatively weak modulation efficiency and substantial loss. In contrast, the silicon thermo-optic effect is more efficient (Δn∕ΔT 1.86× 10 −4 K −1 ), and thermo-optic modulation does not introduce any loss; switches with compact footprint and high extinction ratio can be realized at low switching power [10], showing obvious advantages in expending the scale of switches.…”