Low crosstalk polymer-based digital optical switches and arrayed waveguide gratings

Polymer-based digital optical switches (DOS) and arrayed-waveguide gratings (AWG) were designed, fabricated and characterized. Both devices exhibit low crosstalk and are key components for optical add/drop multiplexers (OADM). Polymer DOS are attractive for such applications because of their relatively low switching power and their polarization and wavelength independent behavior, and can be used as the space stage of a monolithically integrated polymer-based OADM.