High-speed electro-optic switch using buried electrode structure in polymer Mach–Zehnder waveguide

Abstract

A low-cost and high-speed electro-optic (EO) switch using the guest–host EO material Disperse Red 1/Polymethyl Methacrylate (DR1/PMMA) was designed and fabricated. The DR1/PMMA material presented a low processing cost, an excellent photostability and a large EO coefficient of 13.1 pm/V. To improve the performance of the switch, the in-plane buried electrode structure was introduced in the polymer Mach–Zehnder waveguide to improve the poling and modulating efficiency. The characteristic parameters of the waveguide and the electrodes were carefully designed and the fabrication process was strictly controlled. Under 1550 nm, the insertion loss of the device was 12.7 dB. The measured switching rise time and fall time of the switch were 50.00 ns and 54.29 ns, respectively.