High performance digital optical switch

Abstract

In this work, we present a high performance Y-shaped digital optical switch (DOS) which complies with the DOS reported earlier using Titanium in-diffused or proton exchanged Lithium Niobate waveguiding structures. The optimization of switching characteristics is performed for switching voltage and device size. This structure has a total length of 5.5mm and a width of 20.6μm. For the first time, the driving voltage as low as 1V has been achieved with acceptable crosstalk levels (in the range of -22dB to -28dB) for communication applications. Using a beam propagation method (BPM), we demonstrate that the switch is polarization independent and suitable for low attenuation optical window (1300nm and 1550nm) operation as well. © 2011 Photonics Society of Poland.