Abstract

Digital optical switches (DOS’s),¹ initially demonstrated in LiNbO₃ (Ref. 2) and more recently in InP (Ref. 3), show great potential for photonic-switching applications thanks mainly to extended optical bandwidth (>50 nm), polarization insensitivity, and ease of control because of their digital response. Routing applications are already foreseen and have motivated the fabrication of both LiNbO₃ (Ref. 4) and InP (Ref. 5) polarization-insensitive 4×4 matrix switches. However, high-speed operation, which would enlarge the potential use of these devices towards synchronous packet and ATM switching, has not been demonstrated. We report, for the first time to our knowledge, InP DOS devices that, depending on the control mode, exhibit switching times ranging from a few nanoseconds down to 300 ps.

© 1993 Optical Society of America