An application of a silica-on-terraced-silicon platform to hybridMach-Zehnder interferometric circuits consisting of silica-waveguidesand LiNbO3 phase-shifters

By using a silica-on-terraced-silicon platform (STS-platform) for optical hybrid integration, we fabricated a hybrid Mach-Zehnder interferometric circuit consisting of silica-waveguide directional couplers and a LiNbO₃ phase-shifter array. The circuit functioned as an optical switch with an insertion loss of 6.0 dB including input and output fiber coupling loss and an extinction ratio of better than 20 dB. The STS-platform was thus confirmed to incorporate both a high-performance planar lightwave circuit and a silicon optical bench