Hybrid digital electro-optic switch

• US 5,970,186 A
• Filed: 03/11/1997
• Issued: 10/19/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: NeoPhotonics Corporation (Lumentum Holdings Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Lightwave Microsystems Corporation (Lumentum Holdings Inc.)
• Inventors: Sherman, Richard D., Kenney, John T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Palmer, Phan T. H.
• Application Number:
  US08/816,124
• Time in Patent Office: 952 Days
• Field of Search: 385/16-23, 385/122-128
• US Class Current: 385/16
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/3132 of directional coupler type

Abstract

A hybrid digital electro-optic switch has core and/or cladding areas that contain at least two different materials which undergo a change in their refractive index when an electric field is applied. One of the two different materials used in core regions, for example, has a change in refractive index that is less than the change in refractive index for the other material when the materials are exposed to the same electric field. A hybrid digital electro-optic switch functions by modulating the propagation constants of the eigenmodes of the switch with a voltage-induced refractive-index change, so that the propagation constants of the two materials are equal either in the presence or absence of the electric field. These electro-optic modulations change the evanescent coupling between the waveguides of the waveguide regions of the switch and transfer an optical signal that was input into one of the waveguides to a coupled waveguide. Compared to earlier digital electro-optic switch designs, the new switch has lower switching voltage, smaller device size, a sharper optical signal transfer, and wider manufacturing and use tolerances, and the switch can use a wide array of materials in its construction. The new switch can also be integrated with both the microstrip and coplanar traveling wave electrodes for very high speed photonic switching applications.

Claims

1. A hybrid digital electro-optic switch for transmitting an optical signal that has an electric field and a power, said switch comprising at least two cores and at least two cladding materials forming a cladding around the cores, each core of said at least two cores having an output portion and transmitting an amount of the power of the optical signal at its respective output portion when the optical signal is transmitted through the switch, said amount being between zero and the power of the optical signal, wherein at least one of the cladding materials is an electro-optic material that exhibits a change in refractive index in an applied electric field, wherein one other of the cladding materials is a material that has a change in refractive index that is less than the change in refractive index of said electro-optic material in the applied electric field, and wherein the electro-optic material is positioned on the switch such that the electro-optic material effects a change in the electric field of the optical signal when the electro-optic material is in the applied electric field, thereby changing the amount of power of the optical signal at the output portion of each of said cores.

2. The hybrid digital electro-optic switch of claim 1 wherein said cores comprise a passive material.

3. The hybrid digital electro-optic switch of claim 1 wherein the second of the cladding materials comprises a passive material.

4. The hybrid digital electro-optic switch of claim 3 wherein said cores comprise a passive material.

5. The hybrid digital electro-optic switch of claim 4 wherein said cladding materials and said cores comprise polymeric materials.

6. The hybrid digital electro-optic switch of claim 4 wherein said switch comprises no more than two cores.

7. The hybrid digital electro-optic switch of claim 4 wherein the cladding material of said switch consists essentially of an electro-optic material and a passive material.

8. The switch of claim 7 wherein said cores are formed over a substrate that has a width, a length, a depth, and a surface spanning the width and the length of the substrate, and said cores are substantially coplanar with the surface of the substrate.

9. A hybrid digital electro-optic switch for carrying an optical signal which has an electric field, said hybrid digital electro-optic switch comprising at least two cores and cladding, wherein the cladding contains at least two different cladding materials individually in said cladding, wherein at least one of the cladding materials is an electro-optic material that changes refractive index in the presence of an applied electric field, wherein a second of the cladding materials is either a passive material or an electro-optic material that changes refractive index less than the first material in the same electric field, and wherein the electro-optic material is located in the cladding such that the electro-optic material affects the electric field of said optical signal when the electro-optic material is in the applied electric field.

10. The hybrid digital electro-optic switch of claim 9 wherein the second of the cladding materials is a passive material.

11. The hybrid digital electro-optic switch of claim 10 wherein the cores comprise a passive material.

12. The hybrid digital electro-optic switch of claim 11 wherein said cladding and said cores comprise polymeric materials.

13. The switch of claim 12 wherein said cores are formed over a substrate that has a width, a length, a depth, and a surface spanning the width and the length of the substrate, and said cores are substantially coplanar with the surface of the substrate.

14. The hybrid digital electro-optic switch of claim 11 wherein the cladding material of said switch consists essentially of an electro-optic material and a passive material.

15. The hybrid digital electro-optic switch of claim 11 wherein said switch has no more than two cores.

16. The hybrid digital electro-optic switch of claim 9 wherein the cores comprise a passive material.

17. A hybrid digital electro-optic switch comprising a cladding having therein an output core and at least a first and a second core, wherein

a. the first core comprises a first core material, which first core material has a refractive index that changes in response to an applied electric field,

b. the second core comprises a second core material, which second core material undergoes a change in refractive index in response to an applied electric field that is less than the change in refractive index for said first core material,

c. the cladding is positioned over a substrate that has a width, a length, a depth, and a surface spanning the width and the length of the substrate, the first and second cores are substantially coplanar with the surface of the substrate, said first and second cores are positioned within the cladding so that the first and second cores evanescently couple under evanescent coupling conditions, and the first and second core materials provide an evanescent coupling between the first and second cores that changes in response to changes in the applied electric field, and

d. the output core abuts the first core.

21. The hybrid digital electro-optic switch of any of claims 17-20 wherein the second material is a passive material.

22. The hybrid digital electro-optic switch of any of claims 17-20 wherein the cores and the cladding comprise polymeric materials.

18. A hybrid digital electro-optic switch comprising at least two cores and cladding, wherein the cladding is positioned over a substrate that has a width, a length, a depth, and a surface spanning the width and the length of the substrate, the first and second cores are substantially coplanar with the surface of the substrate, at least one of said cores is comprised of a first material comprising an electro-optic material that changes refractive index in the presence of an electric field, and wherein a second of said at least two cores is either a passive material or an electro-optic material that changes refractive index less than the first material in the same electric field.

19. A hybrid digital electro-optic switch having at least three cores, wherein

a. said at least three cores evanescently couple under evanescent coupling conditions;

b. at least three materials are used individually to form the cores and the cladding of the hybrid digital electro-optic switch,

c. at least three of the materials used to form the cores and the cladding of the hybrid digital electro-optic switch each has a refractive index that is different from the other of the three materials,

d. a first material of said at least three materials undergoes a change in refractive index in response to an applied electric field, and

e. a second material of said at least three materials undergoes a change in refractive index in response to an applied electric field that is less than the change in refractive index for said first material.

20. The hybrid digital electro-optic switch of claim 19 having a first, a second, and a third core, wherein

a. the first core comprises the first material, which first material has a refractive index that changes in response to an applied electric field,

b. the second core comprises the second material, which second material undergoes a change in refractive index in response to an applied electric field that is less than the change in refractive index for said first material,

c. the third core comprises the first material, and

d. said first, second, and third cores are positioned in the cladding so that the first, second, and third cores evanescently couple under evanescent coupling conditions, and the first and second materials provide an evanescent coupling among the first, second, and third cores that changes in response to changes in the applied electric field.

23. A hybrid digital electro-optic switch comprising

a. a lower section having a first, a second, a third, a fourth, and a fifth lower region, said lower section being positioned over a substrate that has a width, a length, a depth, and a surface spanning the width and the length of the substrate, the lower section being substantially coplanar with the surface,

b. a middle section having a first, a second, a third, a fourth, and a fifth middle region, and

c. an upper section having a first, a second, a third, a fourth, and a fifth upper region,

d. wherein the second and fourth middle regions each are formed of a material having a refractive index sufficient that the second and fourth regions of the middle section are cores under light transmitting conditions;

e. wherein the second and fourth middle regions are spaced sufficiently closely that the second and fourth regions evanescently couple when light is transmitted into at least one of the second and fourth regions;

f. wherein the second middle region is adjacent to the second lower region, the second upper region, and the first and third middle regions;

g. wherein the fourth middle region is adjacent to the fourth lower region, the fourth upper region, and the third and fifth middle regions; and

h. wherein at least one of the following conditions is satisfied;

i) when the second or fourth lower region is formed of an electro-optic material, the other of the second or fourth lower region is formed of a passive material,

ii) when the second or fourth upper region is formed of an electro-optic material, the other of the second or fourth upper region is formed of a passive material;

iii) when the first, third, or fifth middle region is formed of an electro-optic material, at least one of the other of the first, third, or fifth middle region is formed of a passive material;

iv) when the second or fourth middle region is formed of an electro-optic material, the other of the second or fourth middle region is formed of a passive material and the region formed of an electro-optic material abuts an output core comprised of a passive material.

24. A hybrid digital electro-optic switch made by the method comprising the steps of:

a) providing a base;

b) forming coupled cores on said base; and

c) providing cladding elements between the coupled cores;

d) wherein at least two of the coupled cores or at least two of the cladding elements between the coupled cores are each separately formed of a first material and a second material, wherein the first material has a refractive index that differs from the second material, and said second material has less of a change in its refractive index in the presence of an electric field than said first material; and

e) wherein the other of the coupled cores or the cladding elements are formed of a third material that has a refractive index that differs from the refractive index of the first and the second materials.

25. The switch of claim 24 wherein the base comprises a polymeric cladding, the first material comprises a first polymer, and the second material comprises a second polymer.