Development of a Silicon Two-Axis Micromirror for an Optical Cross-Connect

Abstract

This paper describes the development of a two-axis silicon micromirror for a 480 x 480 optical cross-connect (OXC). The micromirror is an electromagnetically actuated, analog silicon mirror. The range of motion for the micromirror is 8 . Full range of motion open-loop moves have been demonstrated in under 5 ms, which enables a full 480 x480 switch reconfiguration in 10 ms. The micromirror and OXC have been optimized for low loss. The average optical insertion loss is -2.5 db at 1550 nm and -2.9 db at 1310 nm, the two primary wavelengths in fiber optic data transmission. SONET data at 2.4 Obits/sec has been transmitted through the OXC with no loss penalty.