High-performance silicon PIN diode switches in the 2-µm wave band

The 2-µm wave band has attracted significant research interest due to its potential applications for next-generation high-capacity optical communication and sensing. As the key component, fast optical switches are essential for an advanced and reconfigurable optical network. Motivated by this prospect, we propose and demonstrate two typical silicon PIN diode switches at 2 µm. One is based on a coupled microring resonator (CMRR), and the other is based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) with a push-pull-like configuration. The measured insertion loss of the CMRR switch is <2.5 dB, and the cross talk is <-10.8 dB. The insertion loss of the MZI switch is <2 dB, and the cross talk is <-15.6 dB. The switch times of these two structures are both lower than 12.5 ns.