A low power consumption thermo-optic variable optical attenuator based on SOI material

A SOI thermo-optic variable optical attenuator with U-grooves based on a multimode interference coupler principle is fabricated. The dynamic attenuation range is 0 to 29 dB at the wavelength range between 1510 nm and 1610 nm, and the maximum power consumption is only 130 mW. Compared to the variable optical attenuator without U-groove, the maximum power consumption decreases more than 230 mW.