Arrayed Waveguide Grating Reconfigurable Optical Cross Connect Router

In this work we present a reconfigurable optical arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) cross connect router based on controlling the phase in the arrayed waveguide region by introducing small excessive delay to this region. This can be handy in the design of AWG devices that serves as an optical cross connect. The introduced delay is the outcome of varying the phase in the different arrayed waveguides between the two free propagation regions (FPR) using a thermo-optic or electrooptic modulator. The arrayed waveguides used in this design employed a reverse biased single mode PN-Junction waveguides (PNJW) fabricated on silicon on insulator (SOI) substrate. The applied voltage on the PNJW controls the phase delay and consequently controls the outputs from the second free propagation regions (FPR2). Simulation is carried out for the structure as individual blocks using commercial software lumerical INTERCONNECT. The results for switching of the optical signal from one port to another one has been achieved.