Chen et al.

PhotoniX (2024) 5:14 PhotoniX

https://doi.org/10.1186/s43074-024-00131-w

RESEARCH Open Access

Large‑scale optical switches by thermo‑optic

waveguide lens
Tao Chen1†, Zhangqi Dang1†, Zeyu Deng1†, Shijie Ke1, Zhenming Ding1 and Ziyang Zhang1*   

†
Tao Chen, Zhangqi Dang and
Zeyu Deng contributed equally Abstract
to this work. Optical switches are desired in telecom and datacom as an upgrade to electrical ones
*Correspondence: for lower power consumption and expenses while improving bandwidth and network
zhangziyang@westlake.edu.cn transparency. Compact, integrated optical switches are attractive thanks to their scal-
1
Laboratory of Photonic ability, readiness for mass production, and robustness against mechanical disturbances.
Integration, School
of Engineering, Westlake
The basic unit relies mostly on a microring resonator or a Mach–Zehnder interferome-
University, 18 Shilongshan Road, ter for binary “bar” and “cross” switching. Such single-mode structures are often wave-
Hangzhou, China length / polarization dependent, sensitive to phase errors and loss-prone. Furthermore,
when they are cascaded to a network, the number of control units grows quickly
with the port count, causing high complexity in electronic wiring and drive circuit inte-
gration. Herein, we propose a new switching method by thermo-optic waveguide lens.
Essentially, this multimode waveguide forms a square law medium by a pair of heater
electrodes and focuses light within a chip by robust 1 × 1 imaging. A 1 × 24 basic switch
is demonstrated with 32 electrodes and only two are biased at a time for a chosen
output. By two-level cascading, the switch expands to 576 ports and only four elec-
trodes are needed for one path. The chips are fabricated on wafer scale in a low-budget
laboratory without resorting to foundries. Yet, the performance goes beyond state
of the art for low insertion loss, low wavelength dependence and low polarization
dependence. This work provides an original, alternative, and practical route to con-
struct large-scale optical switches, enabling broad applications in telecom, datacom
and photonic computing.
Keywords: Optical switches, Photonic integrated circuits, Optical waveguide, Thermo-
optic effect, Square law medium

Introduction
The fast-growing optical communication [1, 2] and photonic computing [3] technolo-
gies have propelled the development of large-scale optical switches with small footprint,
fast speed, and low power consumption. Switches based on micro-electromechanical
systems (MEMS) have been well developed and made their way to commercial devices
thanks to the mature micromachining technology on silicon [4–6]. However, in a MEMS
switch, light path is essentially steered by the mechanical movement of micro mirrors,
which often requires extra calibration and stabilization system against vibration. Though
their performance is excellent, the implementation of MEMS switches is hindered by
high cost, relatively bulky size, and sensitivity to environmental disturbances.

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Chen et al. PhotoniX (2024) 5:14 Page 2 of 15

On the other hand, photonic integrated circuits (PICs) have witnessed tremendous
development over the years as the “core” in high-speed transceiver modules, address-
ing the exponentially growing demand on the optical communication bandwidth in
telecom, datacom, and beyond [7, 8]. PIC-based optical switches are compact chips
relying on local index change to alter the light path without any moving parts. They
can be readily made using a variety of structures on a mature waveguide platform, the
most popular of which are microring resonators (MRRs) [9, 10] and Mach–Zehnder
interferometers (MZIs) [11, 12]. The MRR switch consists of a ring resonator sand-
wiched between a pair of waveguides. By changing the local refractive index on the
ring, light of the selected wavelength is tuned on and off resonance, resulting in a
hopping light path between the drop and through ports. Thanks to the high-quality
factor of the ring, such switches can have very sharp spectral widths, and therefore
need only minimal power to induce the small index change for on–off switching. The
advantage is that the MRR switches can achieve high speed under a compact size and
low power consumption. However, the disadvantage is that they work around sepa-
rate resonant wavelengths and require critical environmental control to stabilize the
spectrum for a consistent switching performance over time [13].
To work in a broad band, avoiding the complexity with wavelength channel alloca-
tions, the MZI structure is more commonly adopted in large-scale switching networks
[14–20]. The basic MZI switch is essentially a 2 × 2 port device. Light from one input
is split into two branches, one goes through a tunable phase shifter, and depending on
this extra phase change, the recombined light forms constructive interference at one
of the two output ports, completing the switching process. Compared to the MRR
structure, the MZI switch is usually more robust against environmental disturbances.
However, the problem arises when the MZI units are cascaded to provide more access
ports. For instance, a 1 × ­2N network would require (­2N-1) units, with N being the
cascade level number. When the port number gets large, the design and integration
of the electronic drive circuits become challenging [21]. Though a single MZI is rel-
atively insensitive to phase error compared to the high-quality-factor MRR, a large
network of MZIs often runs into thermal crosstalk issues and needs feedback circuits
to monitor the phase shift and correct the errors adaptively, thereby increasing the
complexity and cost of the system [22]. Due to these challenges, the reported large-
scale networks have been restricted to 8 × 8 for the MRR structure [23] and 32 × 32
for the MZI structure [15–18], to the best of our knowledge.
In this work, a new type of large-scale optical switch is proposed and demonstrated
as shown in Fig. 1a. This switch comprises essentially only a multimode waveguide,
steered by a set of thermal electrodes. We show by theoretical derivations that the
heat generated by biasing the electrodes can create a parabolic refractive index distri-
bution in the waveguide cross-section, as indicated in Fig. 1b and c. This special type
of index distribution is called square law medium and was shown to fulfil the function
of a perfect lens [24]. One example is the gradient index optical fiber, which has found
applications beyond optical communication as mini lenses (GRIN lenses) or collima-
tors [25]. Another example is the wavefront tuning device in a silicon nitride wave-
guide array, where the geometry of each waveguide is designed to provide an effective
Chen et al. PhotoniX (2024) 5:14 Page 3 of 15

Fig. 1 a Layout of the thermo-optic waveguide lens (TOWL). b Temperature gradient created by turning
on a pair of parallel electrodes spaced over a distance (D) of 90 μm, each with a heating power of 45 mW/
mm. c The resulting refractive index distribution in the waveguide center plane (z = 0), forming a parabolic
curve along y, i.e., a square law medium. d The corresponding light focusing behavior in TOWL along the
propagation direction x. e The variation of the 1 × 1 imaging length L, equivalent to 4f, under different
apertures D and heating powers P, allowing TOWL to work as an on-chip tunable lens

index point on the parabolic curve, and therefore the entire array works in a similar
way as a GRIN lens, but on a chip [26].
Nevertheless, the square law medium reported so far can only provide the function as
a fixed lens, with little room for tunability. Here, we report, for the first time to our best
knowledge, that the square law medium can be readily formed through thermo-optic
effect on a planar waveguide and the “lens” properties can be flexibly tuned by choosing
different electrode pairs and with variable heating powers. We show that these changes
are equivalent to varying the optical axis, the lens aperture (D) and the focal length (f) in
an imaging system. We call this device thermo-optic waveguide lens (TOWL).
Essentially, TOWL can refocus the input light to different single-mode output wave-
guides through the 1 × 1 imaging, or 4f effect, by choosing the matched electrode pairs
with respective powers, as exemplified in Fig. 1d and e. The imaging effect is experimen-
tally verified on a multimode waveguide with an array of electrodes and an open chip
Chen et al. PhotoniX (2024) 5:14 Page 4 of 15

facet to monitor the variation of the near-field light profile via an external lens-camera
system, as summarized in Fig. 2. Since the multimode waveguide is relatively wide, it
allows an array of output waveguides to be connected, breaking the binary switching
limitation from MRR or MZI-based switches. In Fig. 3, we demonstrate a 1 × 24 switch.
With increasing port number, e.g., from 1 to 24, the multimode waveguide gets only
slightly expanded in transverse direction, making room for extra electrodes and output
waveguides to be placed.
Furthermore, a 1 × 576 switch is developed by cascading the 1 × 24 switches in just
two levels. As light propagates in the multimode waveguide without sharp bounda-
ries, the edge-roughness induced scattering loss common to single-mode waveguides is
avoided. No crossing is needed in the 1 × 576 switch. The transmission measurement has
shown a record low loss for such a device from 1500 to 1600 nm under both transverse

Fig. 2 a The experimental setup to monitor the imaging effect of TOWL. b The photo of the TOWL chip
with an open multimode waveguide facet. c The captured near-field intensity profile for the electrode pair
H6 + H11 under different heating currents. The center line of the parallel electrodes H6 + H11 is considered
as the optical axis of the lens and is aligned with the input waveguide for the on-axis imaging (y = 0). d
The simulation and experimental results show the TOWL driven by the electrode pair H3 + H9, where the
optical axis is shifted to y =  + 15 μm. Correspondingly, the off-axis imaging has resulted in a focused spot at
y =  + 30 μm. e The results under the electrode pair H8 + H14, where the optical axis is shifted to y = -15 μm.
Correspondingly, the off-axis imaging has resulted in a focused spot at y = -30 μm
Chen et al. PhotoniX (2024) 5:14 Page 5 of 15

Fig. 3 a Layout of the 1 × 24 optical switch. b Photo of the chip wire-bonded to the PCB adapter. c Photo
of the assembly under test. d Absolute transmission spectra (in dBm) for all the 24 ports on the chip and the
fiber-to-fiber reference without the chip

electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) polarizations after a detailed comparison to
the state of the art. The required number of tuning units / electrodes is also significantly
lower. Prospects for further development are made at the end.

Methods
Considering the TOWL structure in Fig. 1a, the electrodes on the upper cladding pro-
duce a temperature gradient on the cross-section of the multimode waveguide. This
temperature distribution can be readily calculated using numerical tools, as displayed
in Fig. 1b. Fundamentally, in a solid medium the steady state heat transport equation is
denoted by:
Chen et al. PhotoniX (2024) 5:14 Page 6 of 15

−∇ · (k∇T ) = Q, (1)

where k is the thermal conductivity in a unit of W/(m·K), and Q is the applied heat
energy transfer rate (W/m3). Typically, in a planar lightwave circuit the waveguide allows
multimode only in the y direction while remaining single mode in the vertical z direc-
tion. The core thickness is small, i.e., 3.5 μm in the chosen polymer waveguide platform
[27]. The temperature gradient is weak across the modal area in the z direction and can
be ignored. Whereas in the y direction the waveguide extends to several tens of microm-
eters, the modes experience significant temperature / index transition. When consider-
ing only the y direction, the heat transfer equation can be simplified to:

∂ 2T
−k =Q (2)
∂y2

For a thermo-optic material, the thermo-optic coefficient c is defined by:

dn
c= (3)
dT

Within a certain temperature range, c can be considered as a constant. The updated

refractive index n(y) after heating can be expressed as:

n(y) = n0 (y) + c[T y − T0 ], (4)

where n0 is the refractive index at room temperature T0. The heat transfer equation
Eq. (2) is then converted to:

∂ 2 n(y) Q
2
= −c (5)
∂y k

The general solution to Eq. (5) follows a parabolic form:

n = αy2 + βy + γ , (6)

where α, β, and γ are constants, depending on c, Q, k and the boundaries conditions.

The mathematical derivation above lays the theoretical ground to prove that a square-
law medium can be created via a simple thermo-optic effect in a planar waveguide, mak-
ing it possible to focus light periodically, similar to a gradient index fiber. The simulation
result in Fig. 1c verifies this, where the induced refractive index curve follows near to
perfect parabolic form. In the chosen polymer waveguide platform, the thermo-optic
coefficient is a negative value. Therefore, a pair of electrodes should be adopted to mimic
the effect of a convex lens. In positive thermo-optic materials such as silica, the effect
can be obtained by applying a single electrode.
Figure 1d shows the light propagation in the multimode waveguide along x by numeri-
cal simulation, when D is set to 90 μm and a heating power P to 45 mW/mm on each
electrode. The calculated imaging distance L (4f) is 1 mm. As only 1 × 1 imaging is
explored in this work, we take the imaging distance L as the main parameter for the rest
of this article instead of the equivalent focal length f. Figure 1e summarizes the simula-
tion results showing the variation of L when D and P vary.
Chen et al. PhotoniX (2024) 5:14 Page 7 of 15

The important finding in Fig. 1e is that by choosing proper D and P values, the
multimode waveguide can provide the same imaging length L, as indicated by the
red dashed line. This means for off-axis imaging the images can be aligned along the
y axis at the same x location. Detailed simulations for the off-axis imaging are shown
in Fig. S1 in the supplementary document. For off-axis imaging, the image point
shifts toward smaller x values with increasing y. In all cases, the images are elon-
gated along x, allowing tolerant coupling to the output waveguide. This is the fun-
damental ground for designing an optical switch where the output waveguides can
be placed along y in response to the shift of the optical axis from different combina-
tions of electrode pairs, starting at the same location in x. It resembles a convex lens
in free space, i.e., by varying the curvature (in relation to D) and the index contrast
(in relation to P), the lens can provide the same focal length. With TOWL, the lens
can be conveniently adjusted on a compact chip by turning on different electrode
pairs and giving them different powers. Nevertheless, for far off-axis imaging, it is
more efficient to connect the output waveguide at the real focus point. For further
work, a curved facet to connect the output waveguides is expected to reduce the loss
for the boundary ports.
Next, we verify the imaging effect experimentally. A multimode waveguide chip
with an array of 16 parallel electrodes (H1-H16) is chosen for the test, as sketched
in Fig. 2a. The input is a tapered waveguide to reduce the junction loss. The multi-
mode waveguide is 1.3 mm long (in x) and 300 μm wide (in y), though the effective
width is defined by the electrode pair distance D. The output is an open facet of
the multimode waveguide, allowing the examination of the near field profile through
an external lens-camera system. Standard single-mode fiber is attached to the input
facet and the electrode pair H6 + H11 (D = 90 μm) are contacted by needle probes.
This pair of electrodes has a central axis (optical axis) at y = 0, i.e., the same location
of the input waveguide. A photo of the chip in measurement is shown in Fig. 2b. The
electrodes are injected with identical current for symmetric operation.
Figure 2c displays the transition of the near field profile at the multimode wave-
guide output facet with increasing current. When the electrodes are unbiased, the
original light intensity profile is of a prolonged Gaussian shape, similar to beam
broadening in a slab waveguide. This profile becomes gradually narrowed with
increasing current. At 12 mA, the profile reaches the smallest, focused spot. The
intensity profile from a single mode waveguide placed on the same chip is displayed
as a reference.
After confirming the focusing effect, another set of electrodes is chosen, i.e., H3 + H9.
The center of the parallel electrode pair defines the optical axis, and this combination is
equivalent to moving the optical axis up to y =  + 15 μm. With the object (input wave-
guide) located at y = 0, the inverse image should appear at y =  + 30 μm. This is con-
firmed by both simulation and experiment, as shown in Fig. 2d. Symmetrically, by tuning
on the electrode pair H8 + H14, the image is shifted down to y = -30 μm, as verified in
Fig. 2e. This allows an array of output waveguides to be connected at the multimode
waveguide facet, while the input stays at the fixed location. By varying the combination
of electrode pairs, light can be switched to different output ports. This is the working
principle behind the TOWL optical switches.
Chen et al. PhotoniX (2024) 5:14 Page 8 of 15

Results
Following the principle, a 1 × 24 optical switch is constructed by adjoining 24 output
waveguides on the multimode waveguide facet, as sketched in Fig. 3a. In total 32 elec-
trodes are added, some of which can be reused for neighboring ports by allowing a small
variation of D and asymmetrical heating powers. The output waveguides follow a fan-
out structure to an array with a pitch of 80 μm, intended for a reduced-cladding fiber
array (RC-FA) to be attached. Though the TOWL itself has a small footprint of 1.3 mm
in x and 0.24 mm in y, sufficient space is given to the waveguide fan-out, considering
the pitch size and the large bending radius (3 mm) for the low-index contrast polymer
waveguide (1.47:1.45). At the output side, each waveguide is accompanied by an offset
electrode ranging from 400 μm on the side ports to 1 mm in the middle. This compact
and simple design fulfils the function of a variable optical attenuator (VOA) in order
to suppress the inter-channel crosstalk [28]. With contact pads suitable for an in-house
wire bonding facility and reference waveguides for alignment assistance, the chip meas-
ures 8.5 mm in x and 4.5 mm in y.
The output port count 24 is chosen under the considerations of thermal threshold for
the material, the insertion loss and crosstalk. Since the degradation temperature of the
chosen polymer starts at 300 °C, we allow a maximum heating power P = 45 mW/mm,
equivalent to a local temperature of 255 °C. Under this limitation, the parabolic index
distribution can be kept for an aperture D ≤ 110 μm. The minimal imaging length (L = 4f)
is determined to be 1.3 mm. The width of the input and output tapers is set to 8.0 μm to
suppress the junction coupling loss. To avoid severe crosstalk, the gap between the out-
put tapers is set to 0.5 μm. Finally, as both sides of the input port can be used to create
TOWL, the allowed number of the output ports can be calculated as 2 × (110/8.5–1) ≈
24.
In this work, we choose to work on polymer waveguides because polymer materi-
als possess both relatively large thermo-optic coefficient and low thermal conductivity,
which are beneficial to develop highly efficient thermally tunable devices. The fabrica-
tion follows a standard process on a 4-inch silicon wafer using conventional contact
lithography (SUSS MA6) and reactive ion etching [27]. After dicing, the chip is electri-
cally wire bonded to a PCB adapter, as show in Fig. 3b. The adapter is then connected via
a bus cable to a homemade circuit board capable of providing up to 64 current sources.
The integration and characterization technology are inherited from the function pro-
grammable waveguide engine (FPWE) [29]. The photo of the chip under test is shown in
Fig. 3c.
The input light from a tunable laser (EXFO T100S-HP) is injected into the chip with
a standard single-mode fiber (Corning SMF-28e). This laser is equipped with a polariza-
tion control unit capable of generating 6 polarizations, though only linearly polarized
TE and TM lights are chosen for the wavelength scan. The output fiber of the same type
is fed to the detector system (CT-440). The transmission spectra are recorded for both
polarizations from 1500 to 1600 nm. At first, fiber-to-fiber measurement is performed as
the reference, labelling the system loss. The chip is then placed, aligned to the fiber pair,
and the currents on the selected electrode pair are adjusted via a computer program.
The characterization results are summarized in Fig. 3d, where the solid and dashed lines
indicate the TM and TE polarizations, respectively.
Chen et al. PhotoniX (2024) 5:14 Page 9 of 15

It is worth noting that in Fig. 3d, the spectra are recorded as absolute transmitted
power in dBm, where the total insertion loss (IL) includes fiber-chip coupling losses
at both facets and waveguide propagation loss throughout the chip. The insets analyze
the loss characteristics of the 24 ports in detail, referencing to the fiber-to-fiber trans-
mission, i.e., the black curves on the top. The IL spectrum can be obtained by simply
subtracting the fiber-to-fiber reference from the transmission of a chosen channel. The
boundary ports suffer from higher loss than the ports in the middle, due to image dis-
tortion from the aberration effect for larger off-axis distances. The maximal (worst) IL
among all ports is 2.6 dB, occurring at port 24 for TE polarization at 1600 nm, whereas
for port 9 the maximal IL is as low as 1.7 dB for the TM polarization at 1600 nm. The
best result happens for port 9 under TM polarization at 1545 nm, where the IL is merely
1.5 dB. For any of the 24 ports, the wavelength dependent loss (WDL) is below 0.5 dB
and the polarization dependent loss (PDL) is smaller than 0.4 dB.
To dissect the loss contribution, the fiber-chip coupling loss is suppressed to below
0.3 dB by inversely tapering the waveguide to a tip of 1.1 μm, thereby enlarging the mode
profile similar to that of a single-mode fiber [28]. The propagation loss of a single-mode
polymer waveguide is below 1 dB/cm, obtained by the standard cut-back measurement
on waveguides of the same design but different lengths. Both fiber-chip coupling loss
and waveguide propagation loss show little polarization dependence. As light propagates
in the multimode waveguide under a parabolic index profile upon heating, the light field
does not experience the edge roughness arising from reactive ion etching when defin-
ing the waveguide structure. Therefore, the sidewall scattering loss typical to step-index
waveguide is avoided in TOWL.
To analyze the crosstalk, we have chosen two ports in the middle, i.e., #14 and #18,
as well as the two side ports #24 and #1. The neighboring channels (± 1) are measured
when the TOWL switch is set to work on the target port. The second neighboring chan-
nels (± 2) all feature a low crosstalk below -30 dB. The results are displayed in Fig. 4.
When the VOA is not activated, the switch exhibits a relatively large crosstalk and in the
worst situation, it goes up to -13.1 dB (targeted at #18, measured at #17, TE polarization,
at 1500 nm). This is attributed to the unwanted coupling at the multimode waveguide
end-facet to the output waveguide array. When the VOA electrode is switched on, the
crosstalk can be suppressed to below -30 dB for all the ports tested under both polariza-
tions from 1500 to 1600 nm.
Following the excellent performance of the TOWL device, we go on forward and
design a 1 × 576 switch by cascading the 1 × 24 switches in two levels. The layout is
shown in Fig. 5a. To make the chip compact, the output ports are organized into three
groups along the north, east, and south sides of the chip. The pitch is set to 80 μm, allow-
ing RC-FAs to be attached to the three facets. The chip measures 4.7 cm from north to
south and 3 cm from east to west. A photo is shown in Fig. 5b. In total 800 electrodes are
placed on the chip, while only four are needed to define one path.
It requires tremendous effort to cover the measurement for all the 576 ports. Instead,
we have selected the following ports as representatives for proof of concept: on the east
side #12 [2, 7, 13, 16, 20, 23] and #13 [1, 4, 11, 16, 21, 24]; on the south side #24 [1, 4, 7,
9, 11, 16, 20, 24]. The first number following the # sign indicates the port number on the
1 × 24 switch of the first level. The numbers in the brackets are the ports measured on
Chen et al. PhotoniX (2024) 5:14 Page 10 of 15

Fig. 4 The crosstalk characterization on the neighboring ports adjacent to the target port a #14, b #18, c #1
and d #24. The solid lines indicate the crosstalk without activating the on-chip VOA, where the worst crosstalk
is lower than -13.1 dB. The dashed lines are the measurement when the respective VOA is turned on, where
the crosstalk level is suppressed below -30 dB regardless of polarization and for all wavelengths

the respective 1 × 24 switches of the second level. The results for the east side measure-
ment are summarized in Fig. 5c and for the south side in Fig. 5d.
Since the polymer waveguide features a low index contrast and therefore requires a
relatively large bending radius (3 mm), the majority of the loss comes from the single-
mode waveguides for interconnect. This is manifested by the higher loss from the chosen
ports on the east side than on the south side. Though the wavelength and polarization
dependent waveguide losses are weak, they become prominent when the waveguides
extend to centimeters long. Nevertheless, when confined within the C-band (from 1530
to 1565 nm), this switch features an IL below 7.8 dB, a WDL below 0.5 dB, and a PDL
below 0.6 dB for all the 20 ports measured under both polarizations.

Discussions
The self-imaging principle in a step-index multimode waveguide was long discovered
and the multimode interference devices (MMIs) have been developed for beam splitting
but also as the critical 90° hybrid in a coherent receiver [30, 31]. However, in a step-index
MMI, the self-imaging effect takes place for a chosen input at discrete x and y locations.
When the input moves along the waveguide facet in y, the imaging effect deteriorates
abruptly. This is fundamentally different in TOWL, where the input (object) can shift
Chen et al. PhotoniX (2024) 5:14 Page 11 of 15

Fig. 5 a Layout and b photo of the 1 × 576 optical switch. c Absolute transmission spectra (in dBm) for the
chosen 12 ports on the east side of the chip. d Absolute transmission spectra (in dBm) for the chosen 8 ports
on the south side of the chip

along the y axis, so long as paraxial approximation holds, and the output (image) moves
in the opposite direction in y following the 1 × 1 inverse imaging principle. The compari-
son is summarized in Fig. S2 in the supplementary document. Detailed analysis regard-
ing the individual and collective mode behavior between conventional step-index MMI
and TOWL will be covered in our future work.
As a new type of switch, TOWL shows excellent performance compared to the exist-
ing single-mode-based switches. The comparison to the state of the art is given in
Chen et al. PhotoniX (2024) 5:14 Page 12 of 15

Table 1. Detailed comparison regarding the topology of the MZI and TOWL switches
when building a large-scale network is given in Fig. S3 and Table S1 in the supplemen-
tary document. In particular, to construct a 1 × 1024 switching network, the MZIs need
to be cascaded in 10 levels, requiring in total 1023 units. As in practice two electrodes
are needed to drive one MZI, the number of electrodes goes up to 2026. For each path,
20 electrodes need to be turned on simultaneously. For the TOWL switch, by doubling
the 1 × 576 structure reported in this work, e.g., with a simple 1 × 2 switch placed on the
first level, the port number goes up to 1 × 1152. In total 1602 electrodes should be placed
and 6 are needed for one path. Future work includes the exploration on the limit of the
port number (beyond 24) that a single TOWL can hold without cascading, in terms of
waveguide index contrast, thermo-optic coefficient and maximal allowed work tempera-
ture. To further reduce the electrode number, asymmetrical heating can be applied, and
the image point can be shifted effectively by the same electrode pair. In our future work,
the coverage of each electrode and the overlap capability will be studied in detail to draw
the theoretical guidelines for the electrode layout with a minimal electrode number. As
a thermally tunable device, the response time of the TOWL switch is on the millisecond
level. Nevertheless, by careful driver electrode design, electro-optic effect, e.g., in lith-
ium niobate, should also be able to generate a parabolic index profile, making it possible
to develop ultrafast electro-optic waveguide lenses (EOWLs).
Though only one input port is given in this first demonstration, the TOWL can well
expand to N × N ports and fulfill switching functions under strictly blocking, conditional

Table 1 Comparison of large-scale integrated optical switches

Refs Year Port Count Switch IL (dB) XT (dB) Polarization λ range Footprint
Type and PDL (dB) (nm) WDL ­(mm2) and
Materials (dB) Power

[14] 2016 16 × 16 EO-MZI ~20 -10 TE only 1530 ~ 1590 10.7 × 4.4
Silicon on-chip not given 1.17 W
[15] 2017 32 × 32 EO-MZI 24.3 -14.1 TE only 1500 ~ 1570 12.1 × 5.2
Silicon on-chip 7.1 max
542.3 mW
[16] 2018 32 × 32 TO-MZI ~ 45 ~-22 TE only 1530 ~ 1565 12 × 12
Silicon on-chip not given < 1 W (on-
die)
[17] 2019 32 × 32 TO-MZI 12.8 -20 TE only 1547 10 × 26
Silicon 1547 nm (14.2 nm 1.9 W
f2f bandwidth
for -20 dB
XT)
[18] 2020 32 × 32 TO-MZI ~65 -13.1 TE and TM demon- 22.5 × 10
SiN/Si f2f ~7 strated at not given
1547
[19] 2001 1 × 128 TO-MZI 4.3 -29.8 not given not given 57 × 60
Silica f2f max 3.2 W
[32] 2012 1 × 100 TO-Phase 15.2 -50 TE only 1533 ~ 1570 6 × 6.5
Array on-chip 3 < 25 mW
InP
This work 2024 1 × 576 TOWL 8.9 < -30 TE and TM 1500 ~ 1600 30 × 47
Polymer f2f 0.81 1.9 ~ 0.5 W
The IL, XT, PDL values are given for the worst cases
EO electro-optic, TO thermo-optic, IL insertion loss, XT crosstalk, PDL polarization dependent loss, WDL wavelength
dependent loss, f2f fiber to fiber
Chen et al. PhotoniX (2024) 5:14 Page 13 of 15

nonblocking and strictly nonblocking scenarios, as sketched in Fig. S4 in the supplemen-

tary document. The conditional nonblocking structure is of particular interest as it fea-
tures the same size as the 1 × N switch, adding the input waveguide array on the front
facet of the multimode section. Like a conventional lens, TOWL allows multiple beams
to be imaged. These beams, however, all follow the same imaging principle and cannot
be routed to arbitrary ports individually. Nevertheless, unlike the physical waveguide
crossing, the beam crossing within a TOWL does not generate extra loss and can be
explored for on-chip beam steering applications.

Conclusions
To summarize, a new optical switching method is proposed and verified first by theo-
retical derivations that reveal the underlying physics to generate the square law medium.
This thermo-optic waveguide lens (TOWL) behaves as a tunable lens by heating differ-
ent pairs of parallel electrodes placed above the waveguide. Simulations and experiments
have verified that the aperture and the focal length of the lens can be effectively altered,
for on-axis as well as off-axis 1 × 1 imaging. This lens effect is used to construct compact
1 × 24 and further 1 × 576 optical switches with low insertion loss and low polarization
dependence across a wide wavelength range. The switches show superior performance
over the literature, yet requiring less electrodes to operate, leading to a relaxed electric
integration technology.
Without resorting to expensive foundries, the fabrication follows a standard process
on a 4-inch silicon wafer in a low-budget cleanroom using conventional equipment with
minimal feature size above 1 μm. The silicon wafer used in this work serves as a mechan-
ical base and a heat sink, without optical and electrical functions. Though demonstrated
on polymer waveguides as proof of concept, the TOWL technology can well be trans-
ferred to other platforms so long as thermo-optic effect is present and the thermal
conductivity is low. As the chosen polymer materials feature a negative thermo-optic
coefficient, a pair of electrodes is needed to lower the index on the sides for the effect of
a convex lens. On a glass waveguide, only one electrode is required for the same effect
owing to the positive sign of the thermo-optic coefficient. In silicon, however, the high
thermal conductivity tends to create a uniform temperature upon heating and therefore
it is difficult to generate an index gradient efficiently for TOWL operation.
As future work, in addition to the further miniaturization of the TOWL layout and
optimization of the performance, the aberration effect should be studied, as the images
start to deteriorate for the far off-axis ports. This can be solved by terminating the mul-
timode waveguide with a curved facet, allowing different imaging lengths for the bound-
ary ports. In addition, as the electrodes can be flexibly placed, an array of heaters may
create an index distribution of merged parabolas, allowing complex lens groups to be
implemented for advanced on-chip imaging experiments.

Abbreviations
EO Electro-optic
EOWL Electro-optic waveguide lens
FPWE Function programmable waveguide engine
IL Insertion loss
MEMS Micro-electromechanical system
MMIs Multimode interference devices
Chen et al. PhotoniX (2024) 5:14 Page 14 of 15

MRR Microring resonator

MZI Mach-Zehnder interferometer
PCB Printed circuit board
PDL Polarization dependent loss
PIC Photonic integrated circuit
RC-FA Reduced-cladding fiber array
TE Transverse electric
TM Transverse magnetic
TO Thermo-optic
TOWL Thermo-optic waveguide lens
VOA Variable optical attenuator
WDL Wavelength dependent loss
XT Crosstalk

Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at https://​doi.​org/​10.​1186/​s43074-​024-​00131-w.

Supplementary Material 1.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the industry partners for their sincere support and many valuable discussions.
The authors acknowledge Mr. Hao Wei from the China Academy of Art for his help in the figure art design.

Authors’ contributions
TC, ZQD and ZZ proposed the idea, completed the theoretical analysis and prepared the manuscript. ZMD and ZZ
completed the chip fabrication. TC, ZMD, ZYD and SK performed the experiments. ZZ supervised the overall projects. All
the authors analyzed the data and discussed the results. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript before
submission.

Funding
This research received no external funding.

Availability of data and materials

The calculation and experiment data that support the works of this study are available from the corresponding authors
on reasonable request.

Declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Received: 31 January 2024 Revised: 28 March 2024 Accepted: 10 April 2024

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