LAUSR

An ultra-compact and temperature-insensitive Mach-Zehnder interferometer device is introduced on the silicon-on-insulator platform. The device is constructed through one straight multimode waveguide, which consists of two densely packed silicon wires with a narrow gap of varying positions along the device. The total width of the proposed Mach-Zehnder interferometer is only about 1 μm. Interference patterns with extinction ratios of better than 20 dB are achieved. Temperature insensitive operation of the proposed device is also demonstrated for both global and local temperature changes. The shift rate of the wavelength response with respect to the substrate temperature change is within ±10  pm/K in a 30 nm wavelength range.