A NANOPHOTONIC MACH-ZEHNDER INTERFEROMETER SWITCH AND FILTER

摘要

A nanophotonic Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) (20) device having at least one arm (50) which has an actual length greater than its virtual length (Lf). An arcuate section (52) is provided in at least one arm (50) (thus providing a "meandering arm") to increase the actual length of that arm without increasing its virtual length (Lf) and without compromising the ability of that arm to effect a pi phase shift in an optical signal propagating therein. By constructing the MZI device of strongly confined waveguides, which may be either photonic-well or photonic-wire devices, the low bending loss characteristics of such waveguides enable the use of an arcuate section (52) or bend in the waveguide without experiencing undesirable losses in the optical signal. The actual length of the arm and the optical length are equivalent to those for prior art devices and sufficient to introduce the desired phase shift. In contrast to prior art devices, however, the present invention provides those sufficient actual and optical lengths in a significantly reduced length on the chip (i.e., its virtual length) that requires less on-chip real estate and thus provides for denser integration of a plurality of optical devices in an optical component.