Abstract

The non-stopping growth of fiber optic networks has stimulated a great interest in optical switching. Micromachined optical switches are under thorough investigation due to their potentially low insertion losses and crosstalk¹'² The list of their advantages also includes independence of input wavelength and polarization, transparency to the bit rate and modulation format. Electrostatic actuators are featured with low power consumption, high switching speed and small geometries. We propose an electrostatically driven 1 x 2 switch by making use of planar waveguide SiON technology.³ CTuI.2 Fig. 1. Schematic representation of 1 x 2 opto-mechanical switch, a) parallel state; b) crossed state.

© 2001 Optical Society of America