Compact 1 × 3 thin-film lithium niobate optical switch driven by a single radio frequency source

作者：Pu Zhang, Y. H. Jiang, Junfang Liang, liheng wang, zhen han, ze wang, xiaozhe song, Xudong Zhou, Mingrui Yuan, Huifu Xiao, Yonghui Tian · 发表于：Optics Letters · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.1364/ol.590865 · 研究领域：Photorefractive and Nonlinear Optics、Photonic and Optical Devices、Quantum optics and atomic interactions

Optical switches can direct the optical signal to the desired channel to achieve data exchange at high speed and low power consumption. To meet switching demands in data centers, we propose and demonstrate a multi-channel thin-film lithium niobate optical switch, driven by a single radio frequency signal source. The proposed switch adopts cascaded Mach-Zehnder interferometers, mode division multiplexers, and coplanar waveguide electrodes to realize 3-channel control, which has a switching time of <39.1 ps, a maximum driving voltage of 5.2 V, and an extinction ratio of >14.8 dB. The device is suitable for high-speed and low-latency optical network switches to reduce electrical drivers, such as high-performance digital-to-analog converters in large-scale optical networks.