Topic
Optical switch
About: Optical switch is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 28538 publications have been published within this topic receiving 351176 citations.
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TL;DR: An electrowetting based optical switch with tunable aperture under the influence of an electric field a non-transparent oil film can be replaced locally by a transparent water drop creating an aperture through which light can pass.
Abstract: We demonstrate an electrowetting based optical switch with tunable aperture. Under the influence of an electric field a non-transparent oil film can be replaced locally by a transparent water drop creating an aperture through which light can pass. Its diameter can be tuned between 0.2 and 1.2 mm by varying the driving voltage or frequency. The on and off response time of the switch is in the order of 2 and 120 ms respectively. Finally we demonstrate an array of switchable apertures that can be tuned independently or simultaneously.
119 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a lowvoltage electrostatically actuated 2/spl times/2 fiber optic switch is achieved using a stress-induced curved polysilicon actuator, which substantially lowers the electrostatic operating voltage of the switch.
Abstract: A low-voltage electrostatically actuated 2/spl times/2 fiber optic switch is achieved using a stress-induced curved polysilicon actuator. The curved polysilicon beam substantially lowers the electrostatic operating voltage of the switch. Large mirror displacement (300 /spl mu/m) and low operating voltage (20 V) are obtained simultaneously. Sub-millisecond switching time (<600 /spl mu/s), low optical insertion loss (0.7 dB), and small polarization-dependent loss (0.09 dB) have been achieved.
118 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an advanced microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) optical switch that consists of actuator, suspension beam, micromirror, and fiber grooves using deep RIE (DRIE) etching fabrication process is described.
Abstract: Optical switch is widely used in the optical fibre communication networks. This paper described an advanced microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) optical switch that consists of actuator, suspension beam, micromirror, and fiber grooves using deep RIE (DRIE) etching fabrication process. Based on the specification and design requirements of optical switch, the DRIE etching fabrication process is combined with the anisotropic and isotropic, the two different types of etching methods that improve the surface roughness of the micro mirror. Net structure with arcs is introduced to obtain a good release and microloading effect is used and prevented trickily. As a result, promising performances of the optical switch such as low driving voltage of 30 V, low insertion loss, fast switching speed of less than 100 μs and high reliable operation of more than 20 million cycles are achieved. The actuator of the optical switch enables to the delivery of a moving displacement which is as large as 45 μm. This MEMS optical switch has a broad applications for fibre optical communication systems such as n×n optical crossconnects (OXCs), variable optical attenuator (VOA), etc.
118 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a silica-based 16/spl times/16 strictly nonblocking thermooptic matrix switch with a low loss and a high extinction ratio was described, which employs a double Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) switching unit and a matrix arrangement to reduce the total waveguide length.
Abstract: We describe a silica-based 16/spl times/16 strictly nonblocking thermooptic matrix switch with a low loss and a high extinction ratio. This matrix switch, which employs a double Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) switching unit and a matrix arrangement to reduce the total waveguide length, is fabricated with 0.75% refractive index difference waveguides on a 6-in silicon wafer using silica-based planar lightwave circuit (PLC) technology. We obtained an average insertion loss of 6.6 dB and an average extinction ratio of 53 dB in the worst polarization case. The operating wavelength bandwidth completely covers the gain band of practical erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs). The total power consumption needed for operation is reduced to 17 W by employing a phase-trimming technique which eliminates the phase-error in the interferometer switching unit.
118 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the increasing use of WDM systems in telecommunications networks is highlighted, and the potential role for wavelength conversion in future upgrades of such systems is reviewed, and experimental results obtained at BT Laboratories are used to illustrate the state of the art.
Abstract: In this article the increasing use of WDM systems in telecommunications networks is highlighted, and the potential role for wavelength conversion in future upgrades of such systems is reviewed. Techniques for achieving wavelength conversion by all-optical means using nonlinearities in semiconductor optical amplifiers are explained, and experimental results obtained at BT Laboratories are used to illustrate the state of the art.
118 citations