850-nm polymeric waveguide thermo-optic switch with low power-consumption. (December 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Niu, Donghai; Zhang, Daming; Yang, Kaidi; Lian, Tianhang; Sun, Shijie; Li, Baohua; Wang, Xibin
• Is Part Of: Optics & laser technology. Volume 132(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-12
• Subjects: Optical communication -- Polymer waveguide -- Thermo-optic switch -- Integrated optics materials; Optics -- Periodicals; Lasers -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 621.366
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optlastec.2020.106476
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0030-3992

Abstract

Highlights: The designed switch can be operated at the polymer optical fiber low-loss window of 850 nm. The switch can be fabricated by the standard microfabrication technology with simple and low-cost process. The influence of the heating electrode width on the power consumption of the switch was demonstrated. The demonstrated switch has potential applications in the short-distance communication system. Abstract: In this paper, a polymeric waveguide thermo-optic switch with low power-consumption was demonstrated, which was based on the Mach-Zehnder interferometer structure and designed for operating at the polymer optical fiber low-loss window of 850 nm. The characteristic parameters of the device were carefully designed and simulated. Moreover, to demonstrate the influence of the heating electrode width on the power consumption of the device, the switch with different electrode widths was designed and fabricated. At 850 nm operating wavelength, a typical fabricated switch with the optimized electrode width presents a lower power-consumption of 4.5 mW and a higher extinction ratio of 26.5 dB. The rise time and fall time of the device are 400.0 μs and 600.0 μs, respectively. The device could find applications in short-distance optical communication systems.