Abstract

We report on a fully electrically packaged and fiber pigtailed 4×4 crossbar optical switch operating at 1530 nm. The switching matrix uses balanced bridge-type optical switching elements.¹ The balanced bridge optical switch is similar in design to the commonly used Mach-Zehnder intensity modulator with the Y splitters replaced by 3-dB directional couplers. The switch is fabricated on x-cut y-propagating lithium niobate using Ti-indiffused waveguides fabricated by conventional liftoff lithography. The total switch length is 70 mm with 7-mm unit switching elements and input/output waveguide separations of 250 μm. The switching voltage of 13 V and the average extinction ratio of 20 dB are comparable to values recently reported for other 4×4 switches,²,³ while a bandwidth exceeding 1 GHz makes this the fastest switching matrix yet reported. Details of the measured channel-to-channel crosstalk and electrical layout are discussed.

© 1988 Optical Society of America