Dispersed-Monolayer Graphene-Doped Polymer/Silica Hybrid Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) Thermal Optical Switch with Low-Power Consumption and Fast Response

This article demonstrates a dispersed-monolayer graphene-doped polymer/silica hybrid Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) thermal optical switch with low-power consumption and fast response. The polymer/silica hybrid MZI structure reduces the power consumption of the device as a result of the large thermal optical coefficient of the polymer material. To further decrease the response time of the thermal optical switch device, a polymethyl methacrylate, doped with monolayer graphene as a cladding material, has been synthesized. Our study theoretically analyzed the thermal conductivity of composites using the Lewis–Nielsen model. The predicted thermal conductivity of the composites increased by 133.16% at a graphene volume fraction of 0.263 vol %, due to the large thermal conductivity of graphene. Measurements taken of the fabricated thermal optical switch exhibited a power consumption of 7.68 mW, a rise time of 40 μs, and a fall time of 80 μs at a wavelength of 1550 nm.

[1]  J. Yardley,et al.  Fast and low-power thermooptic switch on thin silicon-on-insulator , 2003, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[2]  C. Marxer,et al.  Micro-opto-mechanical 2 x 2 switch for single mode fiber based on plasma-etched silicon mirror and electrostatic actuator , 1997 .

[3]  Ken-ichi Sato,et al.  Realization and Application of Large-Scale Fast Optical Circuit Switch for Data Center Networking , 2017, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[4]  Xiaoqiang Sun,et al.  Fabrication and characterization on an organic/inorganic 2 × 2 Mach–Zehnder interferometer thermo-optic switch , 2014 .

[5]  James Hone,et al.  Ultrafast optical switching of infrared plasmon polaritons in high-mobility graphene , 2016, Nature Photonics.

[6]  F. Tian,et al.  Interchannel interference in multiwavelength operation of integrated acousto-optical filters and switches , 1995 .

[7]  Yue Cao,et al.  A low-power consumption MZI thermal optical switch with a graphene-assisted heating layer and air trench , 2017 .

[8]  F. Gao,et al.  Fluorinated photopolymer cascaded MMI-based integrated optical waveguide switching matrix with encoding functions. , 2019, Optics express.

[9]  Xibin Wang,et al.  Design and fabrication of all-polymer thermo-optic variable optical attenuator with low power consumption , 2017 .

[10]  Xueming Liu,et al.  Ultrafast all-optical switching in nanoplasmonic waveguide with Kerr nonlinear resonator. , 2011, Optics express.

[11]  K. Chiang,et al.  Experimental verification of optical models of graphene with multimode slab waveguides. , 2016, Optics letters.

[12]  K. Chiang,et al.  All-optical loss modulation with graphene-buried polymer waveguides. , 2019, Optics letters.

[13]  A. Somwangthanaroj,et al.  Effective Thermal Conductivity of 3,5-Diaminobenzoyl-Functionalized Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes/Epoxy Composites , 2013 .

[14]  Kin Seng Chiang,et al.  Fast and low-power thermo-optic switch based on organic-inorganic hybrid strip-loaded waveguides. , 2018, Optics letters.

[15]  Christopher T. DeRose,et al.  Hybrid electro-optic polymer/sol-gel waveguide directional coupler switches , 2009 .

[16]  Ray T. Chen,et al.  Printable thermo-optic polymer switches utilizing imprinting and ink-jet printing. , 2013, Optics express.

[17]  T. Kang,et al.  Study of the thermal conductivity of ZnO nanowires/PMMA composites , 2012 .

[18]  Werner Wirges,et al.  Thermo-optic vertical coupler switches using hybrid polymer/silica integration technology , 2000 .

[19]  Kin Seng Chiang,et al.  Ultra-broadband mode filters based on graphene-embedded waveguides. , 2017, Optics letters.

[20]  Lawrence E. Nielsen,et al.  Dynamic mechanical properties of particulate‐filled composites , 1970 .

[21]  Yue Cao,et al.  Thermal tuning of graphene-embedded waveguide filters based on the polymer–silica hybrid structure , 2018, RSC advances.

[22]  Xiaoqiang Sun,et al.  Thermo-Optic Mode Switch Based on an Asymmetric Mach–Zehnder Interferometer , 2019, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[23]  N. D. Rooij,et al.  Micro-opto-mechanical 2/spl times/2 switch for single-mode fibers based on plasma-etched silicon mirror and electrostatic actuation , 1999 .

[24]  K. Falta,et al.  Digital MEMS for optical switching , 2002, IEEE Commun. Mag..

[25]  S. Imamura,et al.  Polymer waveguide thermooptic switch with low electric power consumption at 1.3 mu m , 1993, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[26]  H. T. Davis,et al.  Transport Processes in Composite Media , 1975 .

[27]  G. Lo,et al.  High-Performance TO Switches on Compact Cu-Dielectric-Si Hybrid Plasmonic WRRs , 2014, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.