Mechanical optical switch using flexible polymeric waveguide

We have proposed the novel optical switch using the polymeric waveguide, which is expected to have several advantages, such as low insertion loss, high reliability, and low cost. The polymeric mechanical switch (POMS) takes advantage of flexibility of the polymeric waveguide, and switching operation is achieved controlling physical contact between the cores at the crosspoint. The excess transmission loss of 0.1 dB/crosspoint and the excess reflection loss of 1.9 dB/crosspoint are achieved. Also the switching time of less than 300 μs is successfully demonstrated. The total loss values of 2.4 and 10.2 dB are expected for shortest and longest paths within the 32×32 port count POMS, respectively.