Integrated Optical Switch, Variable Attenuator and Power Monitor Tap Chip for 40-channel PLC ROADM

We present design and performance details of an integrated optical switch, attenuator and tap chip based on adiabatic mode multiplexer for 40-channel PLC ROADM. Our approach enables higher than 48 dB switch shut-off attenuation and isolation.

1 Introduction

Reconfigurable Optical Add-Drop Mupltiplexer (ROADM) allows to remotely reconfigure wavelengths in a Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) optical network offering service providers the flexibility that eventually results in reduced operational expenses. A succesful platform for a 2-degree ROADM is silica on silicon Planar Lightwave Circuit (PLC) technology. Providing high degree of integration, good reliability PLC-based ROADM module is highly manufacturable, cost-effective and therefore is finding its way for use in metropolitan edge and access networks. ROADM channel count is equal to the number of wavelengths that it can support.