A 1 × 4 Silica-Based GMZI Thermo-Optic Switch with a Wide Bandwidth and Low Crosstalk

The growing demand for communication capacity has driven advancements in optical switches. However, measurement procedures for large-scale switching arrays become more complex as the number of units increases. Multi-port optical switches can reduce the measurement complexity. In this work, we demonstrate a 1 × 4 thermo-optic switch fabricated on a silica platform, based on a Generalized Mach–Zehnder Interferometer (GMZI) structure with a wide bandwidth and low crosstalk. The device enables flexible switching among four output channels, achieving a crosstalk below −15 dB over the 1500–1580 nm wavelength range and an insertion loss of −6.51 dB at 1550 nm.