A Bistable Silicon Photonic Mems Phase Switch For Nonvolatile Photonic Circuits

Silicon photonic circuits are rapidly growing in complexity and spreading to new applications. However, programmable circuits consume much power and require active electrical interfaces. For the first time, we demonstrate a nonvolatile photonic MEMS pi-phase switch using dual comb-drive actuation and adhesion forces, implemented in a silicon photonics foundry. Both nonvolatile states are low-loss, display low dispersion, could be cycled through over 100 times, and have retention times over 12 hours. We believe that the demonstrated nonvolatility combined with excellent optical performance can enable a new generation of programmable photonic chips that do not consume any electrical power once (re)configured.