A Compact and Low Power Consumption Optical Switch Based on Microrings

A compact optical switch array based on microrings using a high-index-contrast waveguide is presented with excellent performance. The 84 optical switch matrix occupies just 103mm and its extinction ratio is greater than 30 dB at a low control power consumption of 0.1 W per unit cell. The drop loss is around 2 dB. This device is particularly suitable for applications as a tunable filter array and wavelength selective optical switch.