Free-space micromachined optical switches for optical networking

Fiber-optic switches with high port count have emerged as leading candidate s for deployment in future optical transport networks, where restoration an d provisioning in the optical layer will become increasingly important. Thi s paper reviews the principle and performance of free-space micromachined o ptical switches (FS-MOS) featuring free-rotating hinged micromirrors. A sin gle-chip FS-MOS that implements the critical function of bridging-essential for restoration in core optical networks-is also proposed and demonstrated . The scalability of FS-MOS devices, and the dependence of their insertion losses on mirror-angle, are estimated theoretically, Simulation results sug gest that the FS-MOS approach holds considerable promise for being expandab le to the port-count values that will be needed in future core-transport li ghtwave networks.