Low power consumption thermooptic switch using polymers

Thermooptic 2times2 switches utilizing polymer technology is reported. The devices made of ultraviolet curable fluorinated polymer are based on directional coupler. The waveguide is a rectangular buried channel type with 7times7 mum and the effective index difference of the channel waveguide is about 0.5% for single mode operations. The crosstalk of the switching state is more than 36 dB. The fabricated switch exhibits very low switching power of 32.4 mW