Compact, low-loss and low-power 8x8 broadband silicon optical switch

We demonstrated a 8x8 broadband optical switch on silicon for transverse-electrical polarization using a switch-and-selector architecture. The switch has a footprint of only 8 mm x 8 mm, minimum on-chip loss of about 4 dB, and a port-to-port insertion loss variation of only 0.8 dB near some spectral regions. The port-to-port isolation is above 30 dB over the entire 80-nm-wide spectral range or above 45 dB near the central 30 nm. We also demonstrated a switching power of less than 1.5 mW per element and a speed of 2 kHz, and estimated the upper bound of total power consumption to be less than 70 mW even without optimization of the default state of the individual switch elements. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America