A high performance 4/spl times/4 free-space fiber-optic crossconnection

This paper reports the design, fabrication, and testing of a monolithic integrated 4/spl times/4 optical crossconnection device using movable 3D-mirror to enable channel selection for optical communication applications. Optical switches are desirable for reconfiguring the fibre-optics networks because of the very low insertion loss and high isolation requirements. Most conventional fibre-optic switches are made in-waveguide, which results in high coupling loss. A free-space approach allows a low coupling loss and small crosstalk. Recently, there has been a growing interest in applying the MEMS technology to improve the performance and reduce the cost of optomechanical switches. The novel 4/spl times/4 free-space fiber-optic switch reported can be made compact and lightweight, and is potentially integrable with optical source/detector and controlling electronic devices.