Piezoceramic Switches for Optical Fibres

Abstract

This paper describes a new optical switching concept using the deflection of a piezoelectric tube manufactured by an electrophoretic deposition process. A prototype optical switch has been assembled and some of the performance characteristics have been measured, such as an insertion loss of 0.9dB, crosstalk of -47dB and switching speed from 5-15ms. The system for measuring deflection has been custom-designed and built with a measurement accuracy of 1μm. Future work involves the improvement of the piezoelectric tube performance characteristics and combining all switching components in one case so that the switch can be tested in a real network environment.