An Optical Switch Based on Electro-Optic Mode Deflection in Lithium Niobate Waveguide

We propose a 1 x 2 electro-optic miniature optical switch based on mode deflection of lithium-niobate (LN) annealed proton exchange waveguides with microstructured electrodes. Our fabricated device consists of LN waveguides covered with isosceles-triangle-shaped array electrodes, a horn-shaped input waveguide, and two tapered output waveguides. At a driving voltage of 40 V, the two-modes can switch between two output ports with an extinction ratio of 17.39 dB at the wavelength of 1530 nm. The switching speed is 22 ns. This miniature mode switch could find applications in signal processing and high-speed optical communication networks.