THERMOOPTICAL SWITCH ARRAY

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow a thermooptical switch array arranged with thermooptical switches in parallel to exhibit characteristics as the thermooptical switch arrays to the maximum possible extent by lessening the deterioration of an extinction ratio. SOLUTION: This thermooptical switch array is constituted by parallel arranging a plurality of the thermooptical switches of a Mach-Zehnder type each consisting of a first bidirectional coupler and second bidirectional coupler which are constituted by bringing two optical waveguides on a substrate close to each other, two arm optical waveguides which connect the first bidirectional coupler and the second bidirectional coupler, an organic material which parts the arm optical waveguides in mid-way of the arm optical waveguides, is packed in this parting portion and has a thermooptical constant larger than the thermooptical constant of the arm optical waveguides and a thin-film heater which imparts an optical path length difference between the two arm optical waveguides. The positions of the each other's centers of the adjacent thermooptical switches are offset to the prescribed extent in a propagation direction of the light in the arm optical waveguides.