Optical intersecting-waveguide switches with widened angle of deflection

Reflection type optical switches with intersecting waveguides and bow-tie electrodes are proposed. The intersection angles of these switches are widened because of the implementation of the bow tie electrodes. The guided incident mode is expanded into an infinite spectrum of plane waves. Snell's law is applied to calculate the reflection and refraction coefficients. It is analytically shown that the intersection angle can be almost doubled without remarkable adverse effects upon the extinction ratios and scattering loss. It is, therefore, anticipated that optical switches with bow-tie electrodes exhibit superior characteristics over those with straight ones.<>