NOVEL 1XN AND NXN INTEGRATED OPTICAL SWITCHES USING SELF-IMAGING MULTIMODE GAAS ALGAAS WAVE-GUIDES/

We report the demonstration of novel multiway GaAs/AlGaAs electro-opti c waveguide switches which incorporate self-imaging planar multimode w aveguide splitters and recombiners interconnected by single-mode guide s. Each device consists of one or more input guides, a multiway splitt er, an array of individually addressed electro-optic waveguide phase s hifters, a multiway recombiner, and an array of output guides. By cont rolling the voltage applied to the electro-optic guides, light from an y one input guide can be switched to any one output guide. We present experimental results for 1 x 10 and 10 x 10 devices. Typical values fo r switching uniformity, maximum crosstalk, and insertion loss were +/- 9%, -10 dB, and -12 dB, respectively.