Compact design of an optical phase shifter packaged with IST microheater used for integrated photonics

Abstract A design of compact optical phase shifter which is constructed by two cascading microring resonators and a corresponding packaged microheater is proposed. We illustrated that the footprint of the compact phase shifter could be within 25um × 10um. The effective index change efficiency under thermo-optic effect is significantly increased and the thermal distribution is highly concentrated. In addition, there is a substantial improvement in phase shift efficiency. Only 3 mW power is needed to obtain a phase shift of 2π and 56 mW is needed for 6π. The design could adapt to various optical systems, which will obtain higher integration level and lower power consumption.