Authors: Bo-Ting Liao, Hsin-Hong Shen

 

Abstract:

This work presents the development of a novel micromachined 2x2 optical switch monolithically integrated with variable optical attenuators. The proposed device can be easily realized by a standard manufacturing process with single photo mask. The key to realizing this device by such a simple approach is the employment the split-cross-bar (SCB) configuration. With this configuration, the fabrication challenges and layout constraints for accommodating all the sub-components of this dual-function device can be completely eliminated. The monolithicallyintegrated system has four movable mirrors, two bi-stable mechanisms and six actuators. The switching of optical signals is achieved by moving the mirrors attached on the bi-stable mechanisms using four of the actuators. The attenuation of optical power is carried out by moving the mirrors using the other two actuators and the bi-stable mechanisms. Also, only simple inplane motions are needed for these sub-components to achieve all the functionalities. In addition, the adaption of bi-stable mechanisms can reduce the power consumption and simplify the actuation scheme. The measured insertion losses for both channels are about 1.0~1.1dB, and the cross-talk is less than -60dB. The attenuation range is about 30dB for a maximum applied voltage of 20V. Also, the measured switching time is less than 4ms.

 

 

Fig. 1. The schematic drawing of the dual-function optical device.

 

 

Fig. 2. The SEM picture of the bi-stable mechanism and the V-beam actuators.

 

 

Fig. 3. The SEM picture of the movable mirrors and the grooves for lensed fibers.

 

Publication:

B.-T. Liao, H.-H. Shen, H.-H. Liao and Y.-J. Yang, “A Bi-stable 2x2 Optical Switch Monolithically Integrated with Variable Optical Attenuators”, Optics Express, Vol. 17, No. 22, 2009, pp. 19919-19925