High-power optical microswitch based on direct fiber actuation

1X4 Optical Switch Based on Digital Actuator

“…Different architectures of optical switches have been developed using mobile mirrors [3] or moveable optical fibers. [4] For the switching of the mobile part, several physical principles have been used as the electromagnetic, [5] electrostatic, [6] electro-thermal [7] or piezoelectric [8] effects. The electromagnetic effect is quite well adapted for digital actuation because a holding without any energy consumption can be easily obtained using the magnetic interaction with permanent magnets.…”

1 × 4 Optical switch based on a four discrete position digital actuator

“…In literature, fiber optical switches based on digital actuators have been developed to realize both single switches [5], [6] or cross bars composed of several switches [7], [8]. Two architectures have been mainly developed: using mobile mirrors [6], [7] or moveable optical fibers [5].…”

“…In literature, fiber optical switches based on digital actuators have been developed to realize both single switches [5], [6] or cross bars composed of several switches [7], [8]. Two architectures have been mainly developed: using mobile mirrors [6], [7] or moveable optical fibers [5]. For the actuation, the electromagnetic [9], [10], electrostatic [11], electrothermal [12], [13] or piezoelectric [14] principles have been used.…”

“…For the actuation, the electromagnetic [9], [10], electrostatic [11], electrothermal [12], [13] or piezoelectric [14] principles have been used. To ensure the holding of the mobile part at discrete position without energy consumption, magnetic holding [13], [10], compliant mechanisms [11], [15] or locking actuators [5] have been used. In this paper, a digital actuator having four discrete positions and its application as an optical switch are presented.…”

A Magnetic Actuator for Fiber-Optic Applications

“…Optical fiber based devices have also been widely used for optical amplitude modulator (Fang and Taylor 1994;Lee et al 1997;Matias et al 2001) and imaging (Boppart et al 1997;Nelson et al 1997;Sedlar et al 2000;Popovic et al 1996;Keplinger et al 2003). Variable fiber-optic-based devices have been developed with piezoelectric (Herding et al 2004), electrostatic (Hoffmann et al 1999;Cochran et al 2004), thermal (Nagaoka 1999;Bernstein et al 2004;Comtois et al 1997), and electromagnetic (Deeter 1995;Tearney et al 1996;Dhaubanjar 2006;Sendoh et al 2003) actuations. In general, thermal actuation devices have higher power consumption while piezoelectric and electrostatic devices require high voltages.…”