Photonic Crystal Based All-Optical Switch Using a Ring Resonator and Kerr Effect

ABSTRACT This paper proposes an all-optical switch using Kerr-type nonlinearity based on a photonic crystal ring resonator (PCRR). For the first time, the bar state and cross-state operation with 2 × 2 elements of an optical switch is implemented using a nonlinear ring resonator. Chalcogenide glass rods are used in the air background to simulate the proposed structure. The operating wavelength for this structure is calculated to be 1551 nm using the finite element method. The functional parameters such as the extinction ratio, response time, bit rate, crosstalk, and insertion loss values are studied using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The presented structure design has a fast data rate of 0.46 Tbps, a low crosstalk value of −17.14 dB, and a fast response time of 2.16 ps. The proposed optical switch has a total footprint of about 398.56 μm2. The device’s performance makes it suitable for switching applications and integration in all-optical circuits.