Design of a $2\times 2$ Programmable Matrix of Silicon Photonic Switches Based on Mach-Zehnder Interferometer Structures Using the Thermo-Optic Effect

The Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) has been extensively deploying in a variety of modern photonic circuits. With the integration of optical switches, this part serves as a fundamental element in the development of more sophisticated structures in the contemporary era of the photonics industry. In this work, we propose a basic design of a 2x2 programmable optical matrix using MZI interferometer's structure and the thermo-optical effect (TOE) as a control technique to obtain the change in the optical signal in the Bar, Cross, and Partial states, resulting in a thermally reconfigurable photonic integrated circuit (PIC). The forward-only waveguide network architecture, in which light flows through each element in only one direction, will be employed. Simulations tools as Synopsys Rsoft software will be used for simulation and results. The goal of this study is to analyse the design of a basic structure, which can be conceptualised as a block within a matrix or a more advanced solution for photonic applications, including, reconfigurable photonic networks, wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) and artificial neural networks.