Optofluidic variable optics attenuator controlled by electricity

摘要

An optofluidic variable optical attenuator (VOA) is proposed in this paper, where the microfluidic driving technology adopts the electrically controlled way. The proposed driving technology solves some problems of existing microfluidic driving technologies and introduces a simple structure, a small volume, high precision, and a quick response for the VOA. This VOA has some advantages over other VOAs, such as a wide wavelength band (from visible light to the near infrared), a wide adjustable attenuation range, a low wavelength-dependent loss, and a quick response. The experiment results indicate that the attenuation range of this VOA is more than 80 dB and the wavelength-dependent loss is 0.09 dB at an attenuation of 20 dB in the C-band. Most VOAs have millisecond-scale response times, whereas the response time here is about 155-180 mu s. Our work shows a new way to design minia- turized VOAs with good performance and can also promote optofluidics. (C) 2018 Optical Society of America