TY - JOUR
T1 - Digital micromirror device as a diffractive reconfigurable optical switch for telecommunication
AU - Blanche, Pierre Alexandre
AU - Carothers, Daniel
AU - Wissinger, John
AU - Peyghambarian, Nasser
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation through CIAN NSF ERC under Grant #EEC-0812072, Texas Instruments for providing the DLP™ kit, and Tech Launch Arizona for supporting the research effort.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Digital micromirror devices (DMDs) by their high-switching speed, stability, and repeatability are promising devices for fast, reconfigurable telecommunication switches. However, their binary mirror orientation is an issue for conventional redirection of a large number of incoming ports to a similarly large number of output fibers, like with analog microopto electro-mechanical systems. We are presenting here the use of the DMD as a diffraction-based optical switch, where Fourier diffraction patterns are used to steer the incoming beams to any output configuration. Fourier diffraction patterns are computer-generated holograms that structure the incoming light into any shape in the output plane. This way, the light from any fiber can be redirected to any position in the output plane. The incoming light can also be split to any positions in the output plane. This technique has the potential to make an "any-to-any," true nonblocking, optical switch with high-port count, solving some of the problems of the present technology.
AB - Digital micromirror devices (DMDs) by their high-switching speed, stability, and repeatability are promising devices for fast, reconfigurable telecommunication switches. However, their binary mirror orientation is an issue for conventional redirection of a large number of incoming ports to a similarly large number of output fibers, like with analog microopto electro-mechanical systems. We are presenting here the use of the DMD as a diffraction-based optical switch, where Fourier diffraction patterns are used to steer the incoming beams to any output configuration. Fourier diffraction patterns are computer-generated holograms that structure the incoming light into any shape in the output plane. This way, the light from any fiber can be redirected to any position in the output plane. The incoming light can also be split to any positions in the output plane. This technique has the potential to make an "any-to-any," true nonblocking, optical switch with high-port count, solving some of the problems of the present technology.
KW - Fourier hologram
KW - diffraction
KW - nonblocking
KW - optical switch
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U2 - 10.1117/1.JMM.13.1.011104
DO - 10.1117/1.JMM.13.1.011104
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84890073099
SN - 1932-5150
VL - 13
JO - Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS
JF - Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS
IS - 1
M1 - 011104
ER -