LOW-LOSS BENT CONNECTIONS FOR OPTICAL SWITCHES

We present S-bent InP/InGaAsP rib waveguides used as connections for o ptical switches at lambda = 1.5 mu m. Transitions between waveguides o f different curvature and different lateral confinement are realized w ith adiabatic tapers. We investigated bends with radii from 200-1700 m u m and rib widths 2.2, 3.2, and 4.2 mu m. For rib width 3.2 mu m we o btain almost for all radii extremely small quasi-polarization independ ent excess-losses below 0.3 dB. The waveguides are easy to fabricate a nd the tapered transitions are tolerant to technological variations. T he performance offers the chance of low cost and simple monolithic int egration of large optical switch matrices in InP/InGaAsP.