Moderate-to-high optical-isolation reconfigurable 1×2 fiber-optic add-drop switches using a dense wavelength division multiplexing thin-film filter

Abstract

We propose and experimentally demonstrate thin-film filter- (TF) based reconfigurable 1 x 2 fiber-optic add-drop switch (FADS) structures. Our key idea is to locate a movable mirror oriented at a desired angle near the TF to switch the desired wavelength optical beams to the wanted switching ports. Our first moderate-optical-isolation TF-based reconfigurable 1 x 2 FADS is in a transmissive design. Another TF-based reconfigurable 1 x 2 FADS structure is in a retroreflective configuration, and it gives a very low optical-coherent cross talk. Our experimental proof of concept using an off-the-shelf four-cavity TF measured center wavelength at 1,545.749 nm and a 0.8 mm x 0.8 mm x 0.15 mm movable mirror confirms a -19 dB and a much improved <-53 dB optical-coherent cross talk for our transmissive and retroreflective configurations, respectively.