Micro-optical platform for all-optical demultiplexing switch array

As it is free from electrical parasitics, the use of the all-optical switch array is an attractive approach for achieving very high-speed signal proce ssing for optical communication and interconnection beyond the Gbit/s range . However, two incident beams and one outgoing beam for each switch may req uire a complex geometry, thus the module assembly procedure remains a serio us obstacle for its realization. The present work reports the design, test fabrication, and characterization of an optical platform dedicated to all-o ptical demultiplexing at 1.55 mu m, using asymmetric Fabry-Perot saturable absorber switches as active devices, and off-axis binary Fresnel zone lense s as the focusing optics. Two different platform configurations were fabric ated by a substrate stacking technique achieving spot sizes of 13 mu m and 22.5 mu m at the switch plane, with reasonable overlap between the pump and signal beams. The influence of wavelength variation, fabrication tolerance and throughput are discussed.