Optical and Mechanical Characterization of an Evanescent Coupler Optical Switch

Pruessner, Marcel W.; Amarnath, K.; Datta, M.; Kelly, Daniel P.; Kanakaraju, S.; Ho, R.-T.; Ghodssi, Reza

doi:10.31438/trf.hh2004.63

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…The propagating wave inside the cantilever waveguide was butt-coupled to two static output waveguides as the cantilever was laterally aligned to each output waveguide facet as potential was applied to lateral electrodes in parallel to the cantilever beam [87]. Since then, there have been multiple groups that have iterated on this design and developed similar optomechanical switches in other materials, including a wide range of silicon based, polymer based, and finally InPbased semiconductors [14,[88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96].…”

Section: Optomechanical Switchingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fabrication challenges for indium phosphide microsystems

Siwak

Fan

Ghodssi

2015

J. Micromech. Microeng.

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From the inception of III-V microsystems, monolithically integrated device designs have been the motivating drive for this field, bringing together the utility of single-chip microsystems and conventional fabrication techniques. Indium phosphide (InP) has a particular advantage of having a direct bandgap within the low loss telecommunication wavelength (1550 nm) range, able to support passive waveguiding and optical amplification, detection, and generation depending on the exact alloy of In, P, As, Ga, or Al materials. Utilizing epitaxy, one can envision the growth of a substrate that contains all of the components needed to establish a single-chip optical microsystem, containing detectors, sources, waveguides, and mechanical structures. A monolithic InP MEMS system has, to our knowledge, yet to be realized due to the significant difficulties encountered when fabricating the integrated devices. In this paper we present our own research and consolidate findings from other research groups across the world to give deeper insight into the practical aspects of InP monolithic microsystem development: epitaxial growth of InP-based alloys, etching techniques, common MEMS structures realized in InP, and future applications. We pay special attention to shedding light on considerations that must be taken when designing and fabricating a monolithic InP MEMS device.

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Section: Optomechanical Switchingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fabrication challenges for indium phosphide microsystems

Siwak

Fan

Ghodssi

2015

J. Micromech. Microeng.

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InP-based optical waveguide MEMS switches with evanescent coupling mechanism

Pruessner

Amarnath

Datta

et al. 2005

J. Microelectromech. Syst.

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An optical waveguide MEMS switch fabricated on an indium phosphide (InP) substrate for operation at 1550 nm wavelength is presented. Compared to other MEMS optical switches, which typically use relatively large mirrors or long end-coupled waveguides, our device uses a parallel switching mechanism. The device utilizes evanescent coupling between two closely-spaced waveguides fabricated side by side. Coupling is controlled by changing the gap and the coupling length between the two waveguides via electrostatic pull-in. This enables both optical switching and variable optical coupling at voltages below 10 V. Channel isolation as high as 47 dB and coupling efficiencies of up to 66% were obtained with switching losses of less than 0.5 dB. We also demonstrate voltage-controlled variable optical coupling over a 17.4 dB dynamic range. The devices are compact with 2 m 2 m core cross section and active area as small as 500 m 5 m. Due to the small travel range of the waveguides, fast operation is obtained with switching times as short as 4 s. Future devices can be scaled down to less than 1 m 1 m waveguide cross-sectional area and device length less than 100 m without significant change in device design.[1372]Index Terms-Directional coupler, indium phosphide (InP), integrated waveguides, optical MEMS switches.

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Optical and Mechanical Characterization of an Evanescent Coupler Optical Switch

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Fabrication challenges for indium phosphide microsystems

Fabrication challenges for indium phosphide microsystems

InP-based optical waveguide MEMS switches with evanescent coupling mechanism

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