Abstract
In this paper, we propose and demonstrate a 2 × 2 optical Benes switching unit based on two nested silicon microring resonators (MRRs) monolithically integrated on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer. High extinction ratios (ERs) of about 44.7/38.0 dB and low crosstalk values of about −37.5/−45.2 dB at cross/bar states are obtained with the fabricated device. The operation principle is theoretically studied and the switching function is verified by system demonstration experiments with 10 and 12.5 Gb/s non-return-to-zero (NRZ) signals. The switching speed on the order of gigahertz based on free carrier effect in silicon is also experimentally demonstrated.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61125504 and 61235007), in part by MoE Grant (20110073110012), and in part by Minhang Talent Program.
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SPECIAL TOPIC: All-Optical Signal Processing
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Wu, J., Jiang, X., Pan, T. et al. Non-blocking 2 × 2 switching unit based on nested silicon microring resonators with high extinction ratios and low crosstalks. Chin. Sci. Bull. 59, 2702–2708 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-014-0406-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-014-0406-3