Low-loss Optical Switching Based on Phase-change Material Sb2Se3 in a Micro-ring Resonator

Abstract In the past research, optical interconnection has successfully developed into an emerging technology due to its compatibility with CMOS, where an efficient and reconfigurable optical switch operating at ultra-low programming energy is a key element to realize optical signal routing and switching. Here we numerically demonstrate an optical switch operating in the telecommunications band, which shows a 20 dB switch ratio and insertion loss of 0.8 dB. The device is implemented in waveguide-coupled micro-ring resonator (MRR) using the phase materials Sb2Se3, which exhibits high contrast in its optical properties upon transitions between its crystalline and amorphous structural phases.