MICROMACHINED 1XN FIBEROPTIC SWITCH

A new microfabrication technology based on bulk anisotropic etching is presented that offers significant improvements over present microopti cal and microphotonic devices. With this new technology we have fabric ated 200 mu m to 2 cm translational stages, fiber-to-fiber couplers, a nd fiber-to-planar waveguide couplers. In this letter we present the f abrication and characterization of a 1 x n micromechanical fiber-optic al switch. The nonoptimized devices show switching times <10 ms with < -1-dB loss, Significant improvements in both parameters appear possibl e with future refinements. The devices are simple to fabricate, compac t, and show considerable promise in the future of fiber-optic networks . Actuation of the switch is accomplished magnetically although other actuation mechanisms are also possible.