title: High performace silicon 2x2 optical switch based on a thermo-optically tunable multimode interference coupler and efficient electrodes.
abstract: Optical switches based on tunable multimode interference (MMI) couplers can simultaneously reduce the footprint and increase the tolerance against fabrication deviations. Here, a compact 2x2 silicon switch based on a thermo-optically tunable MMI structure with a footprint of only 0.005 mm(2) is proposed and demonstrated. The MMI structure has been optimized using a silica trench acting as a thermal isolator without introducing any substantial loss penalty or crosstalk degradation. Furthermore, the electrodes performance have significantly been improved via engineering the heater geometry and using two metallization steps. Thereby, a drastic power consumption reduction of around 90% has been demonstrated yielding to values as low as 24.9 mW. Furthermore, very fast switching times of only 1.19 µs have also been achieved.
authors.forename: Álvaro
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Rosa
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gutiérrez
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brimont
authors.forename: Amadeu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Griol
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sanchis