Ultrafast, low power, and highly stable all-optical switch in MZI with two-arm-sharing nonlinear ring resonator

A novel configuration of all-optical switch in Mach-Zehnder interferometer with two-arm-sharing nonlinear ring resonator is proposed. Self- and pump-controlled switching are investigated numerically. The simulation results show the reduction of switching threshold down to 0.1 mW and 4 mW correspondingly and the high stability on the switch on/off states. The feasibility of ps-order ultrafast all-optical switching is also discussed.