Fig. 1. (Color online) Three kinds of silicon polarization switch

Fig. 2. (Color online) (a) The theoretical relative amplitude and (b) phase of output TE0 and TM0 polarization state when TM0 polarization state is input.

Fig. 3. (Color online) Schematic of the polarization switch, which is designed on a silicon-on-insulator substrate with a 220-nm-high waveguide.

Fig. 4. (Color online) Simulated TM0–TE1 and TE0–TE0 insert loss of the bilevel taper. The insets are the bilevel taper structure comprising rib waveguide with 90-nm-high slab.

Fig. 5. (Color online) (a) Simulated output light-mode composition of the MZI-type mode converter versus the index and temperature increment of the phase shifter.

Fig. 6. (Color online) (a) Simulated output polarization state composition of the polarization switch versus the index and temperature increment of the phase shifter with TM0 light input. (b) Simulated TM0–TE0 polarization extinction ratio at index increment (temperature) of 0.007 (37.66 K).

Fig. 7. (Color online) Conversion efficiency of the bilevel taper at 1550-nm versus (a) the fabrication error of the slab height and (b) the slab width . (c) Insert loss of the Y branch for TE0 and TE1. (d) The horizontal and (e) vertical misalignment accuracy of the bilevel taper at 1550 nm.