Performance-Improved Broadcast-and-Select Optical Switch Module Based on EAM-Gate Array

Performance improvement of a broadcast-and-select (B&S) optical switch based on an electro-absorption modulator (EAM)-gate array is presented. The introduction of a novel spot-size converter (SSC) with an easy fabrication process reduced the optical coupling loss between the switch&#x...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Y. Muranaka, T. Segawa, Y. Ogiso, T. Fujii, R. Takahashi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2016-01-01
Series:IEEE Photonics Journal
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Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7381608/
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Summary:Performance improvement of a broadcast-and-select (B&#x0026;S) optical switch based on an electro-absorption modulator (EAM)-gate array is presented. The introduction of a novel spot-size converter (SSC) with an easy fabrication process reduced the optical coupling loss between the switch&#x0027;s waveguide array and input/output fibers and enhanced the optical-coupling tolerance for misalignment as the SSC properly expands the waveguide&#x0027;s mode field as well. In addition, the electrical crosstalk, which causes undesirable changes in the output power from different switch ports, was suppressed by the simple addition of a grounded electrode that covers the surface of passive waveguides, instead of employing a complicated regrowth process, as is usually done for electrical isolation between EAMs. A 4 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times$</tex-math></inline-formula> 4 B&#x0026;S optical switch module has been fabricated with these improvements and has successfully exhibited low insertion loss (&#x003C; 15.3 dB), little variation in insertion loss, a fast switching time (&#x003C; 8 ns), low power consumption (&#x003C; 3 W), and a high extinction ratio (&#x223C;50 dB).
ISSN:1943-0655