1 × N (N = 2, 8) Silicon Selector Switch for Prospective Technologies at the 2 μm Waveband

The 2
$\mu \text{m}$
waveband, specifically near
$1.9~\mu \text{m}$
, is an imperative resource that could possibly be exploited in future communications systems. This is due to the promising infrastructural developments at the wavelength region (hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber, thulium-doped fiber amplifier) near
$1.9~\mu \text{m}$
. In this work, we report the
1

$\times N$
selector switch based on Mach-Zehnder interferometers operating near the
$1.9~\mu \text{m}$
wavelength region. As an elementary cell (
$N $
=
2
), an insertion loss as low as 1.1 dB,
$\text{P}_{\pi }$
of 23 mW, 10-90% switching time of lower than 38
$\mu \text{s}$
and a crosstalk of lower than −25 dB from 1880 to 1955 nm has been determined. In order to prove scalability, the
1

$\times $

8
switch
$(N $
=
8)
is demonstrated, indicating crosstalk as low as −21 dB, considering all possible switching configurations across the abovementioned wavelength region. Insertion loss levels are examined.