The switching properties of a resonator consisting of two serially cascaded active microrings (MRs) are reported. The switching is achieved through the variation of the refractive index and the losses of the MRs with current injection, which alters the overall output spectral response. The switch is suitable for optical burst switching systems and metro architectures as it provides fast optical switching in the nanosecond scale with contrast ratio higher than 30 dB for 10-Gb/s intensity modulated signals. The capacity of the switch can be remarkably increased if multiwavelength switching is employed.
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