Reconfigurable and scalable intergrated optic waveguide add/drop multiplexing element using micro-opto-electro-mechanical systems and methods of fabricating thereof
First Claim
1. A multifunctional integrated optic waveguide add/drop multiplexing element comprising:
- light-transmitting waveguides with a cross connecting configuration on a planar lightwave circuit and optical fibers coupled into said light-transmitting waveguides;
a four-sided trench with four substantially vertical sidewalls at a cross connecting location of said light-transmitting waveguides, wherein cores of said light-transmitting waveguides being individually terminated by said four substantially vertical sidewalls of said four-sided trench, and further wherein, said four-sided trench being defined and fabricated by lithographic micromachining processes;
a substantially long and narrow two-sided trench with two parallel and substantially vertical sidewalls, wherein said two-sided trench diagonally intersecting with said four-sided trench and extruding further beyond area defined by said four-sided trench without crossing any cores of said light-transmitting waveguides;
a substantially vertical movable plate placed into said four-sided trench and positioned along said two-sided trench in order to alter propagation and distribution of optical signals among four ports defined by said four-sided trench reflectively, refractively, diffractively, transmitively, or any combination thereof, wherein said optical signals comprising a single or a plurality of optical wavelength channels, and further wherein, said vertical movable plate capable of selectively adding, dropping, or any combination thereof entire or any particular spectral bands of said optical wavelength channels without influencing other pass-through signals of said optical wavelength channels;
tapered and shifted cores of light-transmitting waveguides at said four-sided trench in order to increase optical signal coupling efficiency, to improve optical signal uniformity, and to reduce alignment requirements for said vertical movable plate relative to sender and receiver ports at said four-sided trench, wherein said tapered cores being either symmetric or asymmetric; and
a bulk-micromachined moving device on a substrate with means of attaching said vertical movable plate to itself and said bulk-micromachined moving device capable of displacing said vertical movable plate in and out of optical paths, partially or completely, within areas defined by said four-sided trench.
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Abstract
Over the last several years, the rapidly increasing traffic volume carried by telecommunication networks has been clearly observed as a result of the bandwidth-intensive applications such as Internet access, electronic commerce, multimedia applications, and distributed computing. Optical telecommunication systems employing optical fibers as the transmission medium have exhibited a superior performance/cost ratio for both long-haul and short-haul routes and the emerging dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM)/all-optical networks have shown some promising potentials. However there still exists a need to improve speed, capacity and connectivity of optical telecommunication networks, as the information system'"'"'s subscriber growth increases unrestrained. The present invention provides a reconfigurable and scalable fiber optic switching for optical telecommunication networks by integrating MEMS actuators and PLCs for optical signal switching and routing. The integrated optic waveguide switches and optical cross-connect networks are particularly applicable for DWDM/all-optical networks due to its low cost, small crosstalk, reliable, compact, reconfigurable, modular, scalable, and wavelength/polarization insensitive characteristics. The integrated optic waveguide switch can be configured into a variety of all-optical network component such as Add/Drop switch, optical cross-connect switch array, and Add/Drop DWDM filter by combining MEMS actuators and PLC networks into an integrated hybrid microsystem: Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical System (MOEMS).
267 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A multifunctional integrated optic waveguide add/drop multiplexing element comprising:
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light-transmitting waveguides with a cross connecting configuration on a planar lightwave circuit and optical fibers coupled into said light-transmitting waveguides;
a four-sided trench with four substantially vertical sidewalls at a cross connecting location of said light-transmitting waveguides, wherein cores of said light-transmitting waveguides being individually terminated by said four substantially vertical sidewalls of said four-sided trench, and further wherein, said four-sided trench being defined and fabricated by lithographic micromachining processes;
a substantially long and narrow two-sided trench with two parallel and substantially vertical sidewalls, wherein said two-sided trench diagonally intersecting with said four-sided trench and extruding further beyond area defined by said four-sided trench without crossing any cores of said light-transmitting waveguides;
a substantially vertical movable plate placed into said four-sided trench and positioned along said two-sided trench in order to alter propagation and distribution of optical signals among four ports defined by said four-sided trench reflectively, refractively, diffractively, transmitively, or any combination thereof, wherein said optical signals comprising a single or a plurality of optical wavelength channels, and further wherein, said vertical movable plate capable of selectively adding, dropping, or any combination thereof entire or any particular spectral bands of said optical wavelength channels without influencing other pass-through signals of said optical wavelength channels;
tapered and shifted cores of light-transmitting waveguides at said four-sided trench in order to increase optical signal coupling efficiency, to improve optical signal uniformity, and to reduce alignment requirements for said vertical movable plate relative to sender and receiver ports at said four-sided trench, wherein said tapered cores being either symmetric or asymmetric; and
a bulk-micromachined moving device on a substrate with means of attaching said vertical movable plate to itself and said bulk-micromachined moving device capable of displacing said vertical movable plate in and out of optical paths, partially or completely, within areas defined by said four-sided trench. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. The multifunctional integrated optic waveguide add/drop multiplexing element as cited in claims further capable of reducing into one-input/two-output or two-input/one-output configurations by using only one side of said vertical movable plate and capable of displacing said one side of said vertical movable plate into cross connecting location of said light-transmitting waveguides.
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16. A zero-static power consumption micro electromechanical actuator comprising:
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an electrostatic comb driver with vertical movable plate having lock microstructures, wherein said lock microstructures being integrated into structural layer of said electrostatic comb driver;
a plurality of electrostatic comb drivers having key microstructures, wherein said key microstructures being integrated into structural layer of said electrostatic comb drivers, and further wherein, said key microstructures and said lock microstructures capable of engaging or disengaging with each other; and
said electrostatic comb driver with vertical movable plate positions itself in a steady-state lock state with zero or minimum power consumption if said key microstructures are engaged with said lock microstructures, and said electrostatic comb driver with vertical movable plate positions itself in a freely movable release position if said key microstructures are disengaged from said lock microstructures.- View Dependent Claims (17)
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Specification