Performance evolution of an 2×2 MZI electro-optic switch using Ti:KNbO3 as waveguide at 1.55 μm

All optical switches have become crucial components in Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology to build large optical cross connect (OXC) for wide-area communication network and are well known mainly because of their high speed of operation. This paper shows the optimum performance of a 2×2 MZI electro-optic switch using a channel profile based on titanium diffused potassium niobate (Ti:KNbO
₃
) at 1.55 μm. Extinction ratio and insertion loss are two major performance factors to obtain the design parameters, which are evaluated by varying titanium strip thickness, waveguide width, length of interferometer arm, gap in 3 dB coupler region and gap between interferometer arm. Finally the position of center electrode regarding main axis of the device is also varied. Optimization leads to the value of 0.00925 dB insertion loss and 32.157 dB extinction ratio for both cross state (0 V) & bar state (4 V). The originality of this work is to investigate all the device parameters of a 2×2 Ti:KNbO
₃
based switch at 1.55 μm.