A non-silicon micro-machining based scalable fiber optic switch

Abstract We report a low-cost non-silicon-based fiber optic switch featuring a novel design of reflection cell, which is capable of ±5 V pulse operation and self-latching. The switch prototypes were measured to have a switch time of 2.6 ms, return loss of −54 dB and a low insertion loss. Enabling technology is precision electrical discharge machining. The dynamic process of switching was analyzed using an FEA software ANSYS for design optimization. A reasonable agreement was obtained between the measurement and calculated results. The switch is scalable to 8×8 or above and allows the realization of high capacity cross-connects.