A 2×2 SOI mach-zehnder thermo-optical switch based on strongly guided paired multimode interference couplers

Abstract:

A silicon-on-insulator 2×2 Mach-Zehnder thermo-optical switch is developed based on strongly guided paired multimode interference couplers. The multimode-interference couplers were etched deeply for improving coupler characteristics such as self-imaging quality, uniformity and fabrication tolerance. The proposed switch achieves good performances, including a low insertion loss of -11 .OdB, a fiber-waveguide coupling loss of -4.3dB and a fast response speed measured to be 3.5 and 8.8 μs for raise and fall switching time, respectively.