Micro-electro-mechanical system optical switch and switching node

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10061087-B2
Application number	US-201715587028-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 4, 2017
Priority date	Nov 5, 2014
Publication date	Aug 28, 2018
Grant date	Aug 28, 2018

Abstract

A MEMS optical switch and a switching node are disclosed. The MEMS optical switch includes N 1 input ports, N 1 input MEMS mirrors, M 1 output ports, and M 1 output MEMS mirrors, where a first input port is configured to transmit a first optical signal to a first input MEMS mirror. The first input MEMS mirror is configured to reflect the first optical signal to a first destination output MEMS mirror, where along a straight line in which a first deflection axis is located, the first input MEMS mirror is located on an edge of the N 1 input MEMS mirrors, and when reflecting the received first optical signal to a first output MEMS mirror and a second output MEMS mirror, the first input MEMS mirror deflects towards an opposite direction relative to a second deflection axis.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) optical switch, comprising:
N 1 input ports disposed on an input port plane, wherein each input port of the N 1 input ports is adjacent to another input port of the N 1 input ports;
N 1 input MEMS mirrors disposed on an input mirror plane, wherein each input MEMS mirror of the N 1 input MEMS mirrors is adjacent to another input MEMS mirror of the N 1 input MEMS mirrors;
M 1 output ports disposed on an output port plane, wherein each output port of the M 1 output ports is adjacent to another output port of the M 1 output ports; and
M 1 output MEMS mirrors disposed on an output mirror plane, wherein each output MEMS mirror of the M 1 output MEMS mirrors is adjacent to another output MEMS mirror of the M 1 output MEMS mirrors, wherein the N 1 input MEMS mirrors correspond to the N 1 input ports on a one-to-one basis, the M 1 output MEMS mirrors correspond to the M 1 output ports on a one-to-one basis, and M 1 and N 1 are integers greater than 1, wherein the input mirror plane is non-parallel with the input port plane and the output port plane, and wherein the output mirror plane is non-parallel with the input port plane and the output port plane;
wherein a first input port of the N 1 input ports is configured to transmit a first optical signal from another node to a first input MEMS mirror of the N 1 input MEMS mirrors corresponding to the first input port, wherein the another node is a node to which the MEMS optical switch does not belong;
wherein the first input MEMS mirror is configured to deflect around at least one of a first deflection axis or a second deflection axis, to reflect the first optical signal to a first destination output MEMS mirror of the M 1 output MEMS mirrors, wherein a destination output port of the first optical signal is a first destination output port corresponding to the first destination output MEMS mirror;
wherein the first destination output MEMS mirror is configured to reflect, to the first destination output port, the first optical signal reflected by the first input MEMS mirror; and
wherein the first input MEMS mirror is located on an edge of the N 1 input MEMS mirrors along a straight line on the first deflection axis;
wherein the first input MEMS mirror deflects from a rest state towards a first direction relative to the second deflection axis, while reflecting the first optical signal to a first output MEMS mirror of the M 1 output MEMS mirrors; and
wherein the first input MEMS mirror deflects from the rest state towards a second direction relative to the second deflection axis and different from the first direction, while reflecting the first optical signal to a second output MEMS mirror of the M 1 output MEMS mirrors.

2. The MEMS optical switch according to claim 1 , wherein the M 1 output MEMS mirrors comprise M 2 local drop MEMS mirrors and M 3 other output MEMS mirrors, wherein the M 1 output ports comprise M 2 local drop ports and M 3 other output ports, wherein M 1 >M 2 ≥1 and M 1 >M 3 >1;
wherein the M 2 local drop MEMS mirrors correspond to the M 2 local drop ports on a one-to-one basis, and wherein optical signals output from the M 2 local drop ports are transmitted to a node to which the MEMS optical switch belongs; and
wherein the M 3 other output MEMS mirrors correspond to the M 3 other output ports on a one-to-one basis, and wherein optical signals output from the M 3 other output ports are transmitted to a second node to which the MEMS optical switch does not belong.

3. The MEMS optical switch according to claim 2 , further comprising:
N 2 add ports and N 2 add MEMS mirrors, wherein N 2 ≥1, and wherein the N 2 add MEMS mirrors correspond to the N 2 add ports on a one-to-one basis;
wherein a first add port of the N 2 add ports is configured to transmit a second optical signal from the node to which the MEMS optical switch belongs to a first add MEMS mirror corresponding to the first add port;
wherein the first add MEMS mirror is configured to deflect around at least one of the first deflection axis or the second deflection axis, to reflect the second optical signal to a second destination output MEMS mirror of the M 1 output MEMS mirrors, wherein a destination output port of the second optical signal is a second destination output port corresponding to the second destination output MEMS mirror; and
wherein the second destination output MEMS mirror is configured to reflect the second optical signal to the second destination output port.

4. The MEMS optical switch according to claim 3 , wherein in a direction of at least one of the first deflection axis or the second deflection axis, the M 2 local drop MEMS mirrors are adjacently arranged and the M 3 other output MEMS mirrors are adjacently arranged.

5. The MEMS optical switch according to claim 3 , further comprising:
N 3 first intermediate MEMS mirrors, wherein N 3 >1;
wherein the first input MEMS mirror is further configured to deflect around at least one of the first deflection axis or the second deflection axis, to directly reflect the first optical signal to a first intermediate MEMS mirror of the N 3 first intermediate MEMS mirrors;
wherein the first intermediate MEMS mirror is configured to reflect, to the first destination output MEMS mirror, the first optical signal reflected by the first input MEMS mirror; and
wherein the first destination output MEMS mirror is further configured to reflect, to the first destination output port, the first optical signal reflected by the first intermediate MEMS mirror.

6. The MEMS optical switch according to claim 5 , wherein the N 3 first intermediate MEMS mirrors and the M 2 local drop MEMS mirrors constitute a MEMS mirror array, and wherein the N 3 first intermediate MEMS mirrors are adjacently arranged, and the M 2 local drop MEMS mirrors are adjacently arranged, in a direction of at least one of the first deflection axis or the second deflection axis.

7. The MEMS optical switch according to claim 5 , further comprising:
a reflection element;
wherein the first intermediate MEMS mirror is configured to reflect, to the reflection element, the first optical signal reflected by the first input MEMS mirror, wherein the M 3 other output ports comprising the first destination output port;
wherein the reflection element is configured to reflect, to the first destination output MEMS mirror, the first optical signal reflected by the first intermediate MEMS mirror; and
wherein the first destination output MEMS mirror is further configured to reflect, to the first destination output port, the first optical signal reflected by the reflection element.

8. The MEMS optical switch according to claim 7 , wherein the reflection element comprises a first reflection mirror or N 4 second intermediate MEMS mirrors, wherein N 4 >1.

9. The MEMS optical switch according to claim 8 , wherein the first intermediate MEMS mirror is further configured to reflect, to the first reflection mirror, the first optical signal reflected by the first input MEMS mirror, wherein the reflection element comprises the first reflection mirror and the N 4 second intermediate MEMS mirrors;
wherein the first reflection mirror is configured to reflect, to a second intermediate MEMS mirror of the N 4 second intermediate MEMS mirrors, the first optical signal reflected by the first intermediate MEMS mirror; and
wherein the second intermediate MEMS mirror is configured to reflect, to the first destination output MEMS mirror, the first optical signal reflected by the first reflection mirror.

10. A switching node, comprising:
a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) optical switch, a wave

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Zhang Peng
• Jiang Chendi

Classifications

• G02B6/3518 Primary

  the reflective optical element being an intrinsic part of a MEMS device, i.e. fabricated together with the MEMS device (MEMS devices in general B81B; manufacture of MEM devices in general B81C; micromechanical devices controlling the direction of light G02B26/0833) · CPC title

• G02B6/356

  in an optical cross-connect device, e.g. routing and switching aspects of interconnecting different paths propagating different wavelengths to (re)configure the various input and output links (switching polarized beams G02B6/3594; power equalizers G02B6/356 and G02B6/3594; path selecting means H04Q11/0001) · CPC title

• G02B6/29382

  including at least adding or dropping a signal, i.e. passing the majority of signals · CPC title

• G02B6/3546

  NxM switch, i.e. a regular array of switches elements of matrix type constellation · CPC title

• H04Q2011/003

  using switches based on microelectro-mechanical systems [MEMS] · CPC title