Nonmechanical optical switch for single-mode fibers

This paper introduces a bistable nonmechanical optical switch for single-mode optical fibers. A l-input/2-output device for the l-microm wavelength range, the optical losses of the switch are independent of the polarization state in the input fiber. The insertion losses for the optical signal from the input fiber to the output fiber are 1.4 dB and the crosstalks are -28 dB at 1.3-microm wavelength. Switching is performed by a 20-microsec one-shot pulse with a maximum current of 500 mA. The voltage to switch the optical path is 5 V.