Study of rotary mechanical optical fiber switch

Abstract

A novel mechanical optical fiber switch by rotation has been proposed; the dynamic and switching characteristics have been studied. The structure, operational principle and analysis of the mechanical property, e.g., switching torque, have been evaluated. To characterize dynamic motion, the rotational transfer response time of switching and the transfer function were investigated. It was theoretically and experimentally confirmed that the optical switch has an internal feedback mechanism. The connection loss between multimode fibers caused by deviations of the rods, balls, and optical fibers has also been theoretically and experimentally investigated. In the test optical switch, the switching connection loss was 0.68 dB and the rotational transfer response time in 1 × 6 switching was 134 ms. These experimental results agree with the theoretical results.