Digital optical switches with reconfigurable output waveguide branches in InP

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.