Proposal and switching characteristics evaluation for waveguide‐prism‐deflector type micro optical switches (WPD‐MOS)

Abstract

AbstractTo handle the drastic increase in communication capacity, the need for large‐scale, high‐speed switching systems is expected. As a solution, we proposed a 3‐Dimensional Micro Optical Switching System (3D‐MOSS) that arranges many thin‐film micro optical switches in multiple layers and connects them with Optical Z‐Connections. This implementation requires a micro optical switch having fast, stable operation. In this paper, we propose a waveguide‐prism‐deflector type micro optical switch (WPD‐MOS) as a candidate 3D‐MOSS thin‐film micro optical switch and analyze its operation. This optical switch forms a prism electrode in a slab waveguide having the electro‐optical effect. The application of voltage produces a dynamic waveguide prism and deflects the optical beam. A feature is the insensitivity of the processing precision to strong temperature fluctuations. An evaluation by the Beam Propagation Method (BPM) demonstrated the ability to implement 2 × 2 micro optical switches having a length of 390 µm, crosstalk ≤ − 12 dB, and insertion losses ≤ 0.96 dB at the drive voltage of 110 V. We also studied a 3 × 3 WPD‐MOS. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 2, 86(8): 38–48, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecjb.10132