Silicon photonic wavelength cross-connect with integrated MEMS switching

We report on monolithically integrated wavelength cross-connects (WXCs) on an enhanced silicon photonic platform with integrated microelectro-mechanical-system (MEMS) actuators. An 8 x 8 WXC with 8 wavelength channels comprising 16 echelle gratings and 512 silicon photonic MEMS switches is integrated on a 9.7 mm x 6.7 mm silicon chip. The WXC inherits the fundamental advantages of silicon photonic MEMS space switches, including low loss, broad optical bandwidth, large fabrication tolerance, and simple digital control. The WXC exhibits a low crosstalk of -30 dB, a submicrosecond switching time of 0.7 mu s, and on-chip optical insertion losses varying from 8.8 dB to 16.4 dB. To our knowledge, it is the largest channel capacity (64 channels = 8 ports x 8 wavelengths) integrated WXC ever reported. (C) 2019 Author(s).