OXC and optical switches: core components for building efficient optical networks

I OXC
MEMS OXC, full name Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems Optical Cross-Connect, is a micro-electromechanical system optical cross-connection switch, which is an N×N port matrix optical switch based on MEMS (micro-electromechanical system) technology. This switch can exchange optical signals between different optical paths and is one of the key technologies in all-optical networks. 2. From the traditional architecture, OXC consists of modules such as optical cross-connect matrix +, input interface, output interface, and management control unit. The optical cross-connection matrix is ​​the core of OXC.

II Core structure
The core structure of micro-electromechanical system OXC usually consists of two MEMS micro-mirror arrays and two two-dimensional fiber collimators. Each input fiber collimator corresponds to one in the first MEMS chip, and each output fiber collimator corresponds to a micro-mirror in the second MEMS chip. All micro-mirrors on the MEMS chip are deflected in two axes, so the optical signal can be exchanged from any input port to any output port through the control of two MEMS chips.

In the MEMS OXC, the light beam from each input port is independently controlled by a micromirror on the first MEMS chip, and is directed to another micromirror on the second MEMS chip (the micromirror corresponds to the output target port) through dual-axis deflection. The second micromirror then adjusts the direction of the reflected light beam through dual-axis deflection to point to the output port, thereby realizing the exchange of optical signals.

II Applications and Advantages
MEMS OXC can be used to build CDC ROADM (colorless, non-directional, non-competitive reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer), which plays an important role in all-optical networks. Compared with ROADM, OXC overcomes the problems of complex fiber connection and large space occupation, and supports ultra-large switching capacity and nanosecond delay. In addition, the use of LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon) solution can also improve the reliability of OXC and realize efficient transmission and exchange of optical signals.

Xionghua photoelectric provides mechanical optical switches, MEMS optical switches, magneto-optical switches, and more wavelengths and fiber types can be customized.