Table 2.
Some optical switching configuration based on different materials, Digital thermo optic switch: DOS; Thermo-optic switch: TOS; total internal reflection: TIR; and Mach–Zehnder interferometer: MZI.
| Configuration | Material | Switch Time | Ref. | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOS | polymer | 10 ms | Noh et al. [40] | 2006 |
| TOS based on TIR | polymer | 3 ms | Han et al. [41] | 2012 |
| Y branch | chiral azobenzene-containing polyurethane (CACPU) | 12 ms | Ye et al. [42] | 2013 |
| MZI | chiral azobenzene-containing polyurethane (CACPU) | 2 ms | Ye et al. [42] | 2013 |
| TOS based on TIR | Polyimide waveguide | Not reported | Yang et al. [43] | 2002 |
| Liquid-optical switch | Conductive liquids | 132 ms | Liu et al. [44] | 2015 |
| IR switch | glycerol droplet | 200 ms | Ren et al. [45] | 2012 |
| TOS (MZI) | Silicon on insulator (SOI) | 141 µs | Sun et al. [46] | 2010 |