16 x 16 non blocking silicon optical switch based on electro optic Mach Zehnder interferometers.
We experimentally demonstrate a 16 x 16 non blocking optical switch fabric with a footprint of 10.7 x 4.4 mm2. The switch fabric is composed of 56 2 x 2 silicon Mach Zehnder interferometers (MZIs) with each integrated with a pair of TiN resistive micro heaters and a p i n diode. The average on chip insertion loss at 1560 nm wavelength is ~6.7 dB and ~14 dB for the "all cross" and "all bar" states, respectively, with a loss variation of 1 dB over all routing paths. The measured rise/fall time of the switch upon electrical tuning is 3.2/2.5 ns. The switching functionality is verified by transmission of 20 Gb/s on off keying (OOK) and 50 Gb/s quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) optical signals.
Optics express