Electro-optic mode switch based on lithium-niobate Mach–Zehnder interferometer

Abstract

We propose an electro-optic mode switch based on an optical waveguide Mach–Zehnder interferometer fabricated with $x$-cut lithium niobate by the annealed proton exchange process. The device can switch between the fundamental mode and the higher-order mode with a low driving voltage. Our typical fabricated device, which has a total length of $\sim 24\mathrm{mm}$, shows a mode extinction ratio of $\sim 35\mathrm{dB}$ and a 20-dB bandwidth of $\sim 12\mathrm{nm}$ at the wavelength 1552 nm, when driven at a voltage of 1.7 V at 26°C. High performance can be obtained at any wavelength in the $C+L$ band with a driving voltage varying by no more than 3 V. The proposed mode switch is easy to fabricate and could find applications in reconfigurable mode-division-multiplexing systems.

© 2016 Optical Society of America

Broadband 2 × 2 lithium niobate electro-optic switch based on a Mach–Zehnder interferometer with counter-tapered directional couplers

Hangli Wang, Xuepeng Li, Mengruo Zhang, and Kaixin Chen
Appl. Opt. 56(29) 8164-8168 (2017)

Mode switch based on electro-optic long-period waveguide grating in lithium niobate

Wei Jin and Kin Seng Chiang
Opt. Lett. 40(2) 237-240 (2015)

3×10 Gb/s silicon three-mode switch with 120° hybrid based unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer

Rubana Bahar Priti, Guowu Zhang, and Odile Liboiron-Ladouceur
Opt. Express 27(10) 14199-14212 (2019)

Electro-Optic Long-Period Waveguide Gratings in Lithium Niobate

W. Jin, K. S. Chiang, and Q. Liu
Opt. Express 16(25) 20409-20417 (2008)

Heterogeneous microring and Mach-Zehnder modulators based on lithium niobate and chalcogenide glasses on silicon

Ashutosh Rao, Aniket Patil, Jeff Chiles, Marcin Malinowski, Spencer Novak, Kathleen Richardson, Payam Rabiei, and Sasan Fathpour
Opt. Express 23(17) 22746-22752 (2015)