An optical cross-connection device based on liquid crystal electro-optic waveguide

Abstract

The invention discloses an optical cross-connect device based on a liquid crystal electro-optical waveguide. The optical cross-connect device comprises an optical cross-connect device body, the optical cross-connect device body is constituted by an array of optical switches based on the liquid crystal electro-optical waveguide, all the optical switches control formation and disappearance of the liquid crystal electro-optical waveguide through driving voltage, a light beam propagation path is switched, and switching of N x N multiport optical signals is achieved. On the basis of guaranteeing optical loss, port extendibility and switching speed equivalent to a MEMS device, the optical cross-connect device has the advantages of having smaller device size, low driving voltage and energy dissipation, good single-chip integration, higher robustness and the like, multiport optical exchanging with high performance and good single-chip integration can be achieved, the optical cross-connect device is applicable to exchanging application of a data center, and thus the optical cross-connect device has application and popularization value.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to the technical field of optical switches, in particular to an optical cross interconnection device based on liquid crystal electro-optic waveguides. Background technique [0002] In recent years, big data services for applications such as mobile networks, high-definition video, and cloud computing are driving the development of optical communication networks and data centers. Currently, MEMS micromirror arrays or LCoS are the mainstream of commercially available multi-port (eg, 8x8) optical cross-connect devices. Both of these two devices adopt the free-space light propagation method, which has strict requirements on optical alignment and environmental factors, and the device is large in size, which is not suitable for monolithic integration. For switching applications in data centers, existing studies have proposed and verified the feasibility and effectiveness of using MEMS devices to realize photoelectric hybrid switching. ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, these existing optical cross-connection devices have not fully achieved the balance of optical loss, port expandability, switching speed, size, energy consumption, monolithic integration, and robustness. used in data center

Images