A Slow-Light Mach-Zehnder Interferometric Switch With One-Dimensional Grating Waveguides

Gao, H, Sun, F, Yang, G, Fu, T, Yang, Z ORCID: 0000-0003-1385-493X, Xiao, J, Tang, W and Yang, Y (2025) A Slow-Light Mach-Zehnder Interferometric Switch With One-Dimensional Grating Waveguides. IEEE Access, 13. pp. 162249-162255. ISSN 2169-3536

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Abstract

Optical switches are essential components of all-optical switching networks, enabling optical path switching in the optical domain without the need for electronic conversion. However, the design of optical switches with low-power and ultra-compact footprints remains a significant challenge. In this work, a slow-light thermo-optic (TO) Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) switch based on one-dimensional (1D) grating waveguides is proposed. The proposed structure, with a compact footprint of 72 μ72 μ m, exhibited both strong and weak slow-light regions. In the strong-slow-light region, the structure achieved a high group index ( ng ng ) at a wavelength of 1539.8 nm, with a power consumption of 3.9 mW. Different from conventional designs that rely solely on strong-slow-light effects near the bandgap edge, our approach utilizes the weak-slow-light region centered around 1550 nm. This enables a broader operational bandwidth (~109.5 nm) while maintaining a low switching power of 8.73 mW. The integrated structure presented in this work is promising for building ultra-compact and broadband photonic networks.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1D grating waveguides; Mach-Zehnder interferometer; Optical switch; slow-light; Optical switch; Mach-Zehnder interferometer; 1D grating waveguides; slow-light; 40 Engineering; 08 Information and Computing Sciences; 09 Engineering; 10 Technology; 40 Engineering; 46 Information and computing sciences
Subjects:	T Technology > TK Electrical engineering. Electronics. Nuclear engineering
Divisions:	Engineering
Publisher:	IEEE
Date of acceptance:	28 August 2025
Date of first compliant Open Access:	13 May 2026
Date Deposited:	13 May 2026 10:51
Last Modified:	13 May 2026 10:51
DOI or ID number:	10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3608012
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/28560

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