title: Mach-Zehnder interferometer switch with a high extinction ratio over a wide wavelength range.
abstract: We have realized a novel Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) thermo-optic switch that can operate over a much wider wavelength range than a conventional MZI switch. We constructed the novel MZI switch by incorporating a phase-generating coupler (PGC) as an optical coupler. The PGC generates a nonlinear wavelength-dependent phase, which functions as a virtual wavelength-dependent delay part that cancels out the wavelength dependence of a MZI. We fabricated the novel MZI switch on a silica-based planar light-wave circuit and achieved a low insertion loss of less than 1.6 dB and a high extinction ratio of 30 dB over a wide wavelength range of 160 nm.
authors.affiliation: NTT Photonics Laboratories, NTT Corporation, Atsugi, Kanagawa 243-0198, Japan. mizuno@aecl.ntt.co.jp
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mizuno
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kitoh
authors.forename: Manabu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oguma
authors.forename: Toshimi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kominato
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shibata