Ultrashort Photonic Crystal Optical Switch Actuated by a Microheater

We demonstrate a silicon photonic crystal (PhC) optical switch with a 20-mus response time controlled by a thermo-optic microheater. The switch consists of a dispersion engineered PhC directional coupler that is only 4.9 mum long. Optical and electrical isolation is provided by backfilling the holes and embedding the PhC in a silica cladding to produce a vertically symmetric structure that is more robust than a membrane geometry. No increase in optical loss is observed due to the silica cladding, despite operating above the lightline; the insertion loss for airbridge and silica embedded structures are comparable at 1-2 dB.

[1]  T. Krauss,et al.  Ultracompact and low-power optical switch based on silicon photonic crystals. , 2008, Optics letters.

[2]  T. Krauss,et al.  Silica-embedded silicon photonic crystal waveguides. , 2008, Optics express.

[3]  H. Hamann,et al.  Active control of slow light on a chip with photonic crystal waveguides , 2005, Nature.

[4]  Wei Jiang,et al.  High speed silicon photonic crystal waveguide modulator for low voltage operation , 2007 .

[5]  Nahum Izhaky,et al.  High-speed optical modulation based on carrier depletion in a silicon waveguide. , 2007, Optics express.

[6]  H. Chong,et al.  Highly compact asymmetric Mach-Zehnder device based on channel guides in a two-dimensional photonic crystal. , 2006, Applied optics.

[7]  Noritsugu Yamamoto,et al.  Photonic crystal directional coupler switch with small switching length and wide bandwidth. , 2006, Optics express.

[8]  Thomas F. Krauss,et al.  Low-loss propagation in photonic crystal waveguides , 2006 .

[9]  G. V. Treyz.  Silicon Mach-Zehnder waveguide interferometers operating at 1.3 mu m , 1991 .

[10]  Thomas F. Krauss,et al.  Accurate determination of the functional hole size in photonic crystal slabs using optical methods , 2008 .

[11]  Jinzhong Yu,et al.  Low power 2 × 2 thermo-optic SOI waveguide switch fabricated by anisotropy chemical etching , 2004 .

[12]  Chang-Chung Yang,et al.  The structures and properties of hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) films produced by thermal curing , 2002 .

[13]  M. Tinker,et al.  Thermal and optical simulation of a photonic crystal light modulator based on the thermo-optic shift of the cut-off frequency. , 2005, Optics express.

[14]  Steven G. Johnson,et al.  Block-iterative frequency-domain methods for Maxwell's equations in a planewave basis. , 2001, Optics express.

[15]  L. Sekaric,et al.  Ultra-compact, low RF power, 10 Gb/s silicon Mach-Zehnder modulator. , 2007, Optics express.

[16]  Urs Fischer,et al.  Singlemode optical switches based on SOI waveguides with large cross-section , 1994 .