Novel optical switches based on carrier injectionin three and five waveguide couplers:TIC and SIC

Abstract
Two novel optical switches using the plasma effect in InGaAsP/InP are proposed and demonstrated. They combine mode evolution and two mode interference in multi-waveguides. Three guide switches using transverse index compensation (TIC) show a crosstalk of −25 dB at 3 mA current. Five-guide switches with symmetrical injection compensation (SIC) exhibit a ‘digital’ characteristic with a crosstalk below −15 dB at 12 mA current.