Hybrid polymer/silica thermo-optic vertical coupler switches
01 October 2001
Thermo-optic 1 x 2 vertical coupler switches (VCSs) using a hybrid polymer/silica integration technology were designed using a finite element method and a coupled mode method for different refractive index contrasts. The multilayer structures were optimized by thermal analysis. Based on these designs and simulations, hybrid polymer/silica thermooptic 1 x 2 VCSs exhibiting low insertion loss, low crosstalk, low switching power and polarisation independence were demonstrated. Based on this building block, a 1 x 8 VCS has been fabricated.