Comparison of MEMS variable optical attenuator designs

Author

Marxer, C. ; de Jong, B. ; de Rooif, N.

Author_Institution

Sercalo Microtechnology Ltd., Neuchatel, Switzerland

fYear

2002

fDate

20-23 Aug. 2002

Firstpage

189

Lastpage

190

Abstract

Two micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) - based electrical variable optical attenuator (eVOA) designs are discussed and compared with respect to polarization dependent loss (PDL) and wavelength dependent loss (WDL) characteristics. The first design is based on a shutter, whereas the second device works in reflection, where the movement of a mirror creates misalignment losses by steering the beam away from the core of the output fiber. The reflective-based design shows better PDL values typically below 0.1 dB at 10 dB attenuation. PDL values of the shutter-based design are 3.4 times higher, i.e. 0.5 dB around 10 dB. On the other hand the shutter design has less wavelength dependent loss.

Keywords

beam steering; electro-optical deflectors; microactuators; micromirrors; optical attenuators; optical fibres; optical losses; optical testing; MEMS variable optical attenuator designs; PDL; WDL characteristics; beam steering; eVOA design comparisons; electrical variable optical attenuators; fiber optic attenuation components; micro electro mechanical systems; mirror misalignment losses; output fiber core; polarization dependent loss; reflection mirror based VOA; reflective based VOA; shutter based VOA; wavelength dependent loss; Mechanical systems; Micromechanical devices; Mirrors; Optical attenuators; Optical design; Optical fiber losses; Optical fiber polarization; Optical losses; Optical reflection; Page description languages;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Optical MEMs, 2002. Conference Digest. 2002 IEEE/LEOS International Conference on

Conference_Location

Lugano, Switzerland

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7595-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/OMEMS.2002.1031505

Filename

1031505