Optical Switching in Silicon Nanowaveguide Ring Resonators Based on Kerr Effect and TPA Effect

We analyze theoretically the 1×2 low-power all-optical switching in silicon nanowaveguide ring resonators (RR) based on the Kerr effect and two-photon absorption (TPA), and give a comparison between both the all-optical switches. The calculation shows that the switching power of the TPA-RR switch is 3 orders smaller than that of the Kerr-RR switch. The switching time for both the switches is about 100ps.