What types of optical switches are there?

In the field of optical communications, optical switches, as the core device for optical path conversion, play a pivotal role. It not only realizes the conversion of multiple monitors, LAN, multiple light sources, detectors and Ethernet protection in optical fiber transmission systems, but is also widely used in data centers, optical fiber communications, instrumentation, wind power and military industries and other industries.

Types of optical switches

According to the working principle, optical switches are mainly divided into two categories: mechanical and non-mechanical.

1. Mechanical optical switch

Mechanical optical switches rely on the movement of optical fibers or optical components to disconnect or close the optical path. This type of optical switch mainly includes relay type and motor type. Relay-type optical switches use communication-grade micro-relays to drive lenses to switch optical paths. They have the advantages of low insertion loss, high isolation, and are not affected by polarization and wavelength. However, its switching time is long and its volume is large, making it difficult to integrate a large-scale optical switch matrix. The motor-type optical switch uses a stepper motor to drive the optical fiber to perform micro-step rotation to achieve coupling and switching of optical paths. However, it is difficult to align and align the optical fiber.

MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) optical switch is an important form of mechanical optical switch. It uses electrostatic force or electromagnetic force to rotate tiny lenses carved on the silicon crystal, thereby changing the propagation direction of the input light. MEMS optical switches have the advantages of small size, high integration, and fast switching time. They are an indispensable key component in modern optical communication systems.

2.Non-mechanical optical switch

Non-mechanical optical switches rely on physical effects such as magneto-optical effects and electro-optical effects to change the refractive index of the waveguide and change the optical path. The magneto-optical switch is a high-speed optical switch that utilizes the Faraday optical rotation effect. It rotates the polarization plane of the incident light by changing the external magnetic field to achieve optical path switching. The magneto-optical switch has the characteristics of us-level high-speed switching speed, small size, strong stability and high reliability, and is an ideal choice in high-speed optical communication systems.

The optical switch products produced by Xionghua photoelectric include: mechanical optical switch, all-fiber polarization switch, magneto-optical switch, and MEMS optical switch.