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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Fabrication and Testing of Photonic Thermometers
08:44

Fabrication and Testing of Photonic Thermometers

Published on: October 24, 2018

Compact and low power thermo-optic switch using folded silicon waveguides.

Adam Densmore1, Siegfried Janz, Rubin Ma

  • 1Institute for Microstructural Sciences, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Adam.Densmore@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca

Optics Express
|June 25, 2009
PubMed
Summary

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Researchers developed a low-power thermo-optic switch using a compact spiral design in silicon photonic wire waveguides. This innovation significantly reduces power consumption for optical switching applications.

Area of Science:

  • Photonics
  • Optical Engineering
  • Materials Science

Background:

  • Thermo-optic switches are crucial for optical communication and signal processing.
  • Conventional designs often suffer from high power consumption and large footprints.
  • Silicon photonic wire waveguides offer small bend radii for compact device integration.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To demonstrate a novel low-power thermo-optic switch.
  • To leverage high-index-contrast silicon photonic wire waveguides for a compact spiral geometry.
  • To reduce the power consumption of thermo-optic switches.

Main Methods:

  • Utilizing the small bend radius of silicon photonic wire waveguides.
  • Arranging the waveguide in a dense, double spiral geometry.

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  • Implementing a spiral-path Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) design.

    • Main Results:

    • Achieved a low switching power of 6.5 mW.
    • Demonstrated a 10%-90% rise time of 14 microseconds.
    • Reduced switching power by over 5 times compared to conventional straight waveguide MZIs.

    Conclusions:

    • The dense spiral geometry effectively increases waveguide length for greater phase shift without increasing heated volume.
    • This design offers a significant reduction in power consumption for thermo-optic switches.
    • The compact geometry is highly desirable for developing integrated switch arrays.