MOVING-FIBER OPTICAL SWITCH USING LINBO3 PIEZOELECTRIC ACTUATOR

The need for a fast, miniaturized, optical switch with low insertion loss has increased with the proliferation of optical communications and optical signal processing. This paper describes a moving-fiber optical switch consisting of a LiNbO3 piezoelectric actuator having an antipolarized ferroelectric laminar domain (inversion layer). A new construction technique simplifies optical axis alignment and makes fiber end-face polishing unnecessary. A 2 x 2 moving-fiber optical switch constructed using the above techniques has an insertion loss within 0.8 dB and a switching time less than 10 ms.