19 November 2010

Kotura demos record 0.6mW 2x2 silicon photonics switch with 6ns speed

Kotura Inc of Monterey Park, CA, USA, which has been designing and manufacturing application-specific silicon photonics components for the communications, computing, sensing and detection markets for more than four years, has demonstrated an ultra-fast, submilliwatt, broadband 2x2 optical switch. With switching speeds of 6ns and power consumption of only 0.6mW, the 60nm bandwidth means that the device could more than cover the entire C-band range.

“We are putting all the building blocks in place for optical interconnects,” reports chief technology officer Mehdi Asghari. “We previously demonstrated high-speed, low-power modulators, high-speed detectors with record performance, and low-loss wavelength division multiplexers and de-multiplexers. With our new 2x2 switch we will be able to support more complex silicon photonic circuits and enable more flexible interconnecting architectures,” he adds. “The switching power of 0.6mW achieved by this free-carrier current injection device represents, to our knowledge, a world record and the speed of 6ns is amongst the fastest ever reported.”

“Because the device is broad band, it is very generic,” says president & chief operating officer Jean-Louis Malinge. “The ultra low power of the switch enables us to integrate large numbers of our 2x2 switch modules to create complex switch fabrics.”

The low-power high-speed switch was developed as part of the US Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s Ultra-performance Nano-photonic Intrachip Communications (UNIC) program in conjunction with Oracle Corp, under the leadership of DARPA program manager Dr Jagdeep Shah. See Po Dong et al ‘Submilliwatt, ultrafast and broadband electro-optic silicon switches’, Optics Express, Vol. 18, Issue 24, p25225 (2010); doi:10.1364/OE.18.025225.

Tags: Kotura Silicon photonics

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