Electro-Optic Switch
- Detailed Technology Description
- Cornell researchers have developed the first electro-optic switch (EOS) based on a ring resonator with a PIN junction, resulting in low power requirements and very fast switching speeds.
- Others
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Patents: 200780039495.7; 8,295,655
- *Abstract
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Cornell researchers have developed the first electro-optic switch (EOS) based on a ring resonator with a PIN junction. The EOS uses the ring resonator to modulate an optical signal in an adjacent waveguide. This novel design exploits an electro-optic effect (plasma dispersion) in the resonator cavity to modulate light transmission; a bias applied across the resonator injects carriers which changes its refractive index and therefore its resonance frequency. Because it is a resonator, even small changes in the index of refraction lead to large changes in device behavior. Since only a small number of carriers need be injected, the speed of switching is very fast.
The inventors have been continually improving the original design:
- Adding a doping region on the waveguide to create a NPIN structure
- Signal pre-processing electronics to enhance carrier injection
- Combining multiple switches to obtain wavelength-division multiplexing
Bit rates of 1 Terabit per second can achieved using a device incorporating these features.
Potential Applications
- Silicon photonics
- Data transmission in an electronic, photonic, or electro-optic chips, e.g.
- Stand alone modulator or integrated circuit elements
- Optical systems requiring fast changes in index, such as wavelength conversion, optical delay, slow light, tunable optical filters, broad-band optical amplifiers, optical routers and switches
Advantages
- Low drive and dissipated power (as low as 20 mW)
- Fast switching speeds (up to 40 Gbits/sec)
- Multiplexed data transfer at 1 Terabit per second and higher
- Compact size (10-12 m dia.)
- Compatible with CMOS manufacturing
- *Licensing
- Patrick Govangpjg26@cornell.edu(607) 254-2330
- Country/Region
- USA
