2012 Volume E95.C Issue 2 Pages 213-217
We propose a novel 1×3 planar optical switch using aspheric lenses and carrier-induced tunable prisms on InP. An input light beam is collimated by the aspheric lenses in a slab waveguide. The tunable prism, whose refractive indices are tuned by the carrier plasma effect, deflect the collimated light beam and guide it to the output ports. The switching operations of the 1×3 optical switch that consists of five lenses and eight prisms with a footprint of 500×3500µm are performed by three-dimensional beam propagation methods. A static switching operation with a 5-dB insertion loss and a 13-dB extinction ratio is obtained with 70-mA current injection for each prism. This device has a simple structure and low power consumption and may be useful for optical packet switching systems.
