2x4 Spatial Switch Exploiting On-Chip Beam Steering

Integrated optical switches are of high interest for telecommunication and data center networks because they offer energy efficiency switching, large bandwidth, and small footprints. Larger switch fabrics are typically obtained by interconnecting basic 2x2 building blocks such as Mach-Zehnder switches or ring resonator switches. Other integrated optical switches with a higher port count often rely on arrayed waveguide gratings (AWG), liquid crystals on silicon (LCoS) or micro-electric-mechanical-systems (MEMS) [1] - [4] .