A compact 2 x 2 optical gate using a silicon photonic MEMS dual-drive directional coupler

Abstract

Reconfigurable optical gates control power and phase in programmable photonic circuits. However, state-of-theart optical gates are power-hungry due to using heaters and large due to using Mach-Zehnder Interferometers. Here, we demonstrate a compact low-power optical gate based on a silicon photonic MEMS dual-drive directional coupler.