Ultralow Power Consumption Silica-Based PLC-VOA/Switches

We have achieved a silica-based PLC thermooptic switch with a power consumption of only 30 mW without any deterioration in the optical properties by using a tapered narrow ridge structure. To reduce the power consumption further, we propose a novel structure, the suspended narrow ridge structure, which has the advantages of both the tapered narrow ridge structure and the already reported suspended-bridge structure. As a result, we achieved PLC-VOA/switches with excellent heat design flexibility and a power consumption of 20 mW. In addition, using the proposed the suspended narrow ridge structure, we demonstrate a 16-channel V-AWG with a compact size of 20 times 17 mm and a low total power consumption of 320 mW.