Wang Jin, Shi Shangqing, Niu Hongsheng, Gao Suzhe, Yang Bo, Zhang Shihao, Cheng Wei, Chen Yifei, Guo Chen, Zhu Wanghua, Hu Guohua, Cui Yiping, Yun Binfeng
Opt Lett. 2024 May 15;49(10):2705-2708. doi: 10.1364/OL.520209.
The silicon thermo-optic switch (TOS) is one of the most fundamental and crucial blocks in large-scale silicon photonic integrated circuits (PICs). An energy-efficient silicon TOS with ultrahigh extinction ratio can effectively mitigate cross talk and reduce power consumption in optical systems. In this Letter, we demonstrate a silicon TOS based on cascading Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs) with spiral thermo-optic phase shifters. The experimental results show that an ultrahigh extinction ratio of 58.8 dB is obtained, and the switching power consumption is as low as 2.32 mW/π without silicon air trench. The rise time and fall time of the silicon TOS are about 10.8 and 11.2 µs, respectively. Particularly, the figure of merit (FOM) has been improved compared with previously reported silicon TOS. The proposed silicon TOS may find potential applications in optical switch arrays, on-chip optical delay lines, etc.
硅热光开关（TOS）是大规模硅光子集成电路（PIC）中最基本且关键的模块之一。具有超高消光比的节能型硅TOS能够有效减轻串扰并降低光学系统中的功耗。在本信函中，我们展示了一种基于带有螺旋热光移相器的级联马赫-曾德尔干涉仪（MZI）的硅TOS。实验结果表明，在没有硅空气槽的情况下，可获得58.8 dB的超高消光比，且开关功耗低至2.32 mW/π。硅TOS的上升时间和下降时间分别约为10.8和11.2 µs。特别地，与先前报道的硅TOS相比，品质因数（FOM）得到了提高。所提出的硅TOS可能在光开关阵列、片上光延迟线等方面找到潜在应用。
