Micromechanical light steering optical switch
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A micromechanical light steering device, comprising:
- a substrate;
a plurality of ribbons suspended above the substrate, wherein there is at least one support between each ribbon and the substrate; and
each ribbon having a reflecting surface for reflecting a light beam incident upon the reflecting surface, the ribbons being arranged substantially parallel to each other, the ribbons controllably deflecting toward the substrate when a voltage difference is applied between the substrate and the ribbons, the reflecting surfaces capable of imparting an arbitrary phase profile on the light beam, wherein the arbitrary phase profile emulates a tilting mirror.
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Abstract
An optical switch uses a micromachined adjustable phase hologram device to route optical signals from an input fiber to selected output fibers is described. The adjustable phase hologram includes a large number of micromachined reflective ribbons which can be individually controlled and adjusted to produce a wide range of phase profiles to route the light beams from the input fiber. This optical switch is capable of dealing directly with optical signals, has fast switching speeds, is capable of routing WDM input signals, is polarization independent, is scalable to large switches, and avoids the complexity of other switches.
128 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A micromechanical light steering device, comprising:
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a substrate;
a plurality of ribbons suspended above the substrate, wherein there is at least one support between each ribbon and the substrate; and
each ribbon having a reflecting surface for reflecting a light beam incident upon the reflecting surface, the ribbons being arranged substantially parallel to each other, the ribbons controllably deflecting toward the substrate when a voltage difference is applied between the substrate and the ribbons, the reflecting surfaces capable of imparting an arbitrary phase profile on the light beam, wherein the arbitrary phase profile emulates a tilting mirror. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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2. A micromechanical light steering, comprising:
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a substrate;
a plurality of ribbons suspended above the substrate, wherein there is at least one support between each ribbon and the substrate; and
each ribbon having a reflecting surface for reflecting a light beam incident upon the reflecting surface, the ribbons being arranged substantially parallel to each other, the ribbons controllably deflecting toward the substrate when a voltage difference is applied between the substrate and the ribbons, the reflecting surfaces capable of imparting an arbitrary phase profile on the light beam wherein the arbitrary phase profile is a linear ramp.
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20. A two-dimensional micromechanical light steering device, comprising:
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a first micromechanical light steering for steering the light beam in one dimension; and
a second micromechanical light steering device optically coupled to the first light steering device, the second light steering device for steering the light beam in a second dimension and wherein each of the first and second micromechanical light steering devices including, a substrate;
a plurality of ribbons suspended above the substrate, wherein there is at least one support between each ribbon and the substrate, and each ribbon having a reflecting surface for reflecting a light beam incident upon the reflecting surface, the ribbons being arranged substantially parallel to each other, the ribbons controllably deflecting toward the substrate when a voltage difference is applied between the substrate and the ribbons, the reflecting surfaces capable of imparting an arbitrary phase profile on the light beam.
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21. A micromechanical optical switch, comprising:
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a micromechanical light steering device including, a substrate;
a plurality of ribbons suspended above the substrate, wherein there is at least one support between each ribbon and the substrate, and each ribbon having a reflecting surface for reflecting a light beam incident upon the reflecting surface, the ribbons being arranged substantially parallel to each other, the ribbons controllably deflecting toward the substrate when a voltage difference is applied between the substrate and the ribbons, the reflecting surfaces capable of imparting an arbitrary phase profile on the light beam;
an input fiber;
a plurality of output fibers;
a lens for collimating a light beam carried by the input fiber onto the reflecting surface of the micromechanical light steering device, the lens focusing the light beam reflected from the reflecting surface onto at least one of the plurality of output fibers. - View Dependent Claims (22, 24, 25, 26)
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23. A micromechanical optical switch, comprising:
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a plurality of input fibers;
a plurality of output fibers;
a plurality of input micromechanical light steering devices, each input fiber being optically coupled to an input micromechanical light steering device;
a plurality of output micromechanical light steering devices, each output fiber being optically coupled to an output micromechanical light steering device, the input micromechanical light steering devices being capable of steering a light beam from the input fibers to at least one particular output micromechanical light steering device and the output micromechanical light steering devices being capable of steering the light beam from the input micromechanical light steering devices onto the corresponding output fiber and wherein each of the input and output micromechanical light steering devices including, a substrate;
a plurality of ribbons suspended above the substrate, wherein there is at least one support between each ribbon and the substrate, and each ribbon having a reflecting surface for reflecting a light beam incident upon the reflecting surface, the ribbons being arranged substantially parallel to each other, the ribbons controllably deflecting toward the substrate when a voltage difference is applied between the substrate and the ribbons, the reflecting surfaces capable of imparting an arbitrary phase profile on the light beam.
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27. A method for controlling ribbon deflection in a micromechanical light steering device, comprising:
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grouping ribbons evenly spaced apart into sets of ribbons; and
applying sets of voltages to each set of ribbons to create a linear phase profile across the light steering device, wherein the linear phase profile changes in discrete and equal steps according to the set of voltages applied;
wherein the micromechanical light steering device includes, a substrate, a plurality of ribbons suspended above the substrate, wherein there is at least one support between each ribbon and the substrate, and each ribbon having a reflecting surface for reflecting a light beam incident upon the reflecting surface, the ribbons being arranged substantially parallel to each other, the ribbons controllably deflecting toward the substrate when a voltage difference is applied between the substrate and the ribbons, the reflecting surfaces capable of imparting an arbitrary phase profile on the light beam.
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Specification
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Current AssigneeNeoPhotonics Corporation (Lumentum Holdings Inc.)
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Original AssigneeLightconnect, Inc. (Lumentum Holdings Inc.)
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InventorsBloom, David M., Godil, Asif A.
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Primary Examiner(s)Epps, Georgia
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Assistant Examiner(s)THOMPSON, TIMOTHY J
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Application NumberUS09/353,122Time in Patent Office748 DaysField of Search359/291, 359/290, 359/247, 359/572, 359/254, 359/263, 359/295US Class Current359/291CPC Class CodesG02B 26/0808 by means of one or more dif...G02B 6/3516 the reflective optical elem...G02B 6/3556 NxM switch, i.e. regular ar...G02B 6/356 in an optical cross-connect...
