Abstract
We have demonstrated novel integrated optical switches based on the thermo- optic (TO) effect. The TO switches are input grating couplers. A temperature change causes a change Δ N in the effective refractive index of the guided mode in the grating region of the waveguide. This index change, in turn, induces a detuning away from or towards the resonance maximum of the in-coupling efficiency and thus actuates ON-OFF switching of the guided mode. We used transparent thin film heaters separated from the waveguiding film F(SiO 2 /TiO 2 ) by a buffer layer F′ (SiO 2 ). We fabricated films F and F′ using a dip-coating method (sol-gel process), and the surface relief gratings (1200 lines mm -1 ) were produced by means of an embossing technique. The temporal response of the switches was investigated and was compared with a solution of the heat conduction problem.
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