Efficient silicon photonic waveguide switches for chip-scale beam steering applications

The design and performance of optical switches are crucial for switch-based beam steering devices to be competitive among existing beam steering technologies for light detection and ranging (LIDAR) applications. An efficient liquid crystal (LC) filled directional coupler (DC) optical switch is proposed. Device performance as a function of geometric design is analyzed through numerical simulations. The analysis reveals that the DC is a promising candidate to replace more popular Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) configurations for optical switches when ultra-low $\mathrm{V}_{\pi}\mathrm{L}$ performance is important.