FIBER-OPTIC INTERCONNECTS: Electro-optic deflection enables 1 X 35 fiber-optic switch

摘要

Poled electro-optic crystals are at the core of a compact fiber-optic switch design that can handle watts of optical power at megahertz switching speeds. The same electro-optic (EO) technologies and fabrication capabilities that are used to create Pockel cells and bulk poled frequency-doubling crystals can be combined to create fiber-optic switches and free-space deflectors that can handle higher optical powers than conventional devices. Additional benefits of this combination include higher reliability via the avoidance of any moving parts, and greater compactness enabled by using two-dimensional (2D) deflection. Development of this approach was carried out by AdvR under NASA funding for future space-mission needs.