In the optical fiber communication system, the Optical Switch (OS) is mainly used to realize the physical switching of optical signals or other logical operations in the optical path, and is mostly used in the optical cross-connect (OXC) technology as a key device for switching the optical path.
Types of Optical Switches
According to the number of input and output ports of the optical switch, it can be divided into 1x1, 1x2, 1xN , 2x2, 2xN, MxN, etc. Thus optical switch has one or more transmission windows for different uses in different occasions.
Classified from the manufacturing process, optical switches can be divided into mechanical optical switches, thermo-optical switches, acousto-optical switches, electro-optical switches, magneto-optical switches, liquid crystal optical switches and MEMS optical switches, etc. Among them, mechanical optical switches and MEMS optical switches are two widely used optical switches.
The mechanical/optomechanical switch may be regarded as the oldest type of optical switches. The working principle of the mechanical optical switch is to redirect the optical signal by physically moving the optical fiber with the aid of a mechanical device. By moving the prism or the directional coupler, the light at the input end is directed to the required output port. There are three main types of mechanical optical switches: one is to use prism to switch the optical path technology, the other is to use mirror switching technology, and the third is to switch the optical path by moving optical fibers. Read more on All-Optical Switches: MEMS vs Mechanical Switches in Fiber Optical Network.
