We design, fabricate, and experimentally demonstrate a compact thermo-opticgate switch comprising a 3.78 um-long coupled L0-type photoniccrystalmicrocavities on a silicon-on-insulator substrate. A nanohole isinserted in the center of each individual L0 photonic crystalmicrocavity.Coupling between identical microcavities gives rise to bonding and anti-bondingstates of the coupled photonic molecules. The coupled photoniccrystalmicrocavities are numerically simulated and experimentally verified witha 6 nm-wide flat-bottom resonance in its transmission spectrum, which enableswider operational spectrum range than microring resonators. An integratedmicro-heater is in direct contact with the silicon core to efficiently drivethe device. The thermo-optic switch is measured with an optical extinctionratio of 20 dB, an on-off switching power of 18.2 mW, a thermo-optic tuningefficiency of 0.63 nm/mW, a rise time of 14.8 us, and a fall time of 18.5 us.The measured on-chip loss on the transmission band is as low as 1 dB.
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