Progress in optical switching technology currently faces several major obstacles. One of these is high power consumption, which quickly multiplies in cascaded switch configurations. As well, many implementations have long switching speeds and large footprints. An improved compact 1x2 digital optical switch (DOS) in InGaAsP/InP is presented, with experimental results compared to numerical modeling. The Y-junction waveguide switch operation is based on reconfiguration of output waveguide arms by carrier injection at the electrodes. We present experimental results of DOS fabricated with InGaAsP cores having bandgaps of 1.2um, 1.3um, and 1.4um. The results are compared with calculations of refractive index change versus carrier concentration in the different InGaAsP alloys. Additionally, wafer layer structure and waveguide parameters were redesigned to decrease, respectively, power dissipation and optical confinement. Switching current is significantly reduced from greater than 100 mA to about 20 mA, which not only provides power savings, but also results in less thermal overshoot in the switched optical pulse. The DOS has a measured switching contrast ratio of better than 12.5 dB, with a transition time of less than 5ns. Polarization dependence of switching contrast is also explored.
A compact Y-junction waveguide switch with electrically reconfigurable output waveguide arms is demonstrated in InGaAsP/InP. Simulations indicate that the plasma effect or the thermo-optic effect can be used as the active switching mechanism, as corroborated by experimental tests. For the plasma effect the induced index change under the electrode, Δn, is negative. The Y-junction device has a measured switch contrast ratio ~ 20 dB, with a response time of ~ 5 ns. Using the thermo-optic effect Δn is positive and the observed contrast ratio is better than 10 dB. The highly localized nature of the thermal gradient in these devices yields thermo-optic switching into the hundred of nanoseconds range, several orders of magnitude faster than the overall thermal response time. This is the fastest thermo-optic switch reported to date. Fabrication of these switches, and in particular the use of O+-ion implantation to provide electrical isolation of the waveguide branches, is described.
The powerful transition from electronic to photonic systems in today's Internet-driven communication industry is driving the development of processes to miniaturize and integrate optical components. New processing and packaging technologies are now required that can precisely shape and assemble transparent optical components to sub-wavelength accuracy. Laser microfabrication technology is beginning to play a role here. Our groups are exploring two extremes in laser technology- ultrafast lasers and very short wavelength F2 lasers- to microstructure optical surfaces and to profile refractive-index structures inside transparent glasses. In this paper, we compare photosensitivity responses, spatial resolution, and processing windows for the deep-ultraviolet and ultrafast laser approaches, and discuss prospects for laser printing and trimming of optical waveguide components and circuits.
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