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Compact, Low-loss and Low-power 8×8 Broadband Silicon Optical Switch

13 August 2012

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We demonstrated a 8×8 broadband optical switch on silicon for transverse-electrical polarization using a switch-and-selector architecture. The switch has a footprint of 8 mm × 8 mm, minimum on-chip loss of 4 dB, and a port-to-port insertion loss variation of 0.8 dB near some spectral regions. The port-to-port isolation is above 30 dB over the entire 80-nm-wide spectral range or above 45 dB near the central 30 nm. We also demonstrated a switching power of less than 1.5 mW per element and a speed of 2 kHz, and estimated the upper bound of total power consumption to be less than 70 mW even without optimization of the default state of the individual switch elements. © 2012 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: (130.4815) Optical switching devices; (130.3120) Integrated optics devices