CN210038236U

CN210038236U - High-port-number MEMS optical switch

Info

Publication number: CN210038236U
Application number: CN201920982660.2U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 龚磊
Original assignee: Wuhan Jiaxun Photoelectric Co Ltd
Current assignee: Wuhan Jiaxun Photoelectric Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-06-27
Filing date: 2019-06-27
Publication date: 2020-02-07
Anticipated expiration: 2029-06-27

Abstract

The utility model discloses a high-end-port MEMS optical switch, which comprises a shell, wherein a two-dimensional optical fiber array, a combined lens element and an MEMS micro-mirror are arranged in the shell; the two-dimensional optical fiber array comprises an optical fiber input port and a plurality of optical fiber output ports; the combined lens element comprises a first collimating lens and a second collimating lens; the MEMS micro-mirror comprises a micro-mirror and a micro-electromechanical system, and the micro-electromechanical system is used for adjusting the micro-mirror to rotate in a horizontal plane and a vertical plane; and the optical signal is input from the optical fiber input port, sequentially passes through the first collimating lens and the second collimating lens, is reflected by the MEMS micro-mirror, sequentially passes through the second collimating lens and the first collimating lens, and is coupled into the optical fiber output port for output. The utility model discloses a combination lens replaces current single collimating lens, and the relative position between the combination lens can be adjusted, has greatly optimized optical system's aberration, has promoted fiber array's lateral expansion size, can realize the MEMS photoswitch of higher port figure.

Description

High-port-number MEMS optical switch

Technical Field

The utility model belongs to the technical field of fiber communication, specifically a high-end mouthful of MEMS photoswitch.

Background

Compared with optical switches of other technologies, the MEMS optical switch has the significant advantages of low loss, small size, short switching time, etc., and has become the mainstream technology in the optical switch product series. The existing MEMS optical switch generally adopts the technical scheme of combining a two-dimensional optical fiber array (including a corrosion optical fiber array), a single collimating lens and an MEMS reflector, wherein the two-dimensional optical fiber array is used as an input end and an output end of an optical signal, the single collimating lens is used as a coupling change element of a light spot, and the MEMS rotating mirror is used as a control element for switching the optical signal. Through the two-dimensional angle rotation of the MEMS rotating mirror, the optical signals can be freely switched among the output ports of the two-dimensional optical fiber array.

According to the technical scheme, a square glass tube with the side length of 250 micrometers is used as a fixing device of a two-dimensional optical fiber array, and due to the aberration limitation of the existing optical switch single collimating lens, if the number of input and output optical fibers is increased, the overall dimension of the square glass tube cannot be increased, and only optical fibers with smaller outer diameter sizes can be adopted. However, when the outer diameter of the optical fiber is reduced to a certain level, the optical fiber is prone to failure, and the included angle between the optical fibers is increased, so that the power of the output optical signal is affected. The above factors also limit the number of ports of the MEMS optical switch, and the maximum number of ports of the present mass-produced optical switch is 1 × 16 or less, and a larger number of ports needs to be realized in a cascade manner, which is larger in size, and is not favorable for mass popularization and application of the high-port MEMS optical switch.

Because the aberration of the single collimating lens is relatively large, especially the off-axis aberration, the aberration of the single collimating lens can be rapidly increased along with the increase of the off-axis distance, and the coupling effect of the optical signal is influenced. Therefore, if the number of input/output ports of the existing MEMS optical switch is to be increased, the off-axis coupling distance cannot be increased, and the outer diameter of the optical fiber is reduced only on the premise of ensuring that the off-axis distance is not increased, thereby realizing a higher number of input/output arrays. However, due to the instability and difficult packaging of the small outer diameter optical fibers, the existing design can only realize 5 × 5 optical fiber array distribution generally, and cannot realize an optical fiber array with a higher port number.

Disclosure of Invention

The utility model aims at the problems existing in the prior art, and provides a MEMS optical switch with high port number, the optical switch of the utility model is an independent discrete optical device, does not need to be realized in a cascading way, and has miniaturized size; just the utility model discloses optical system's aberration can be greatly optimized to, can adopt bigger size's square glass pipe to assemble fiber array, and then realize the MEMS photoswitch of higher port figure.

In order to achieve the above object, the utility model adopts the following technical scheme:

a high-port-number MEMS optical switch comprises a shell, wherein a two-dimensional optical fiber array, a combined lens element and an MEMS micro-mirror are arranged in the shell; the two-dimensional optical fiber array comprises an optical fiber input port and a plurality of optical fiber output ports; the combined lens element comprises a first collimating lens and a second collimating lens; the MEMS micro-mirror comprises a micro-mirror and a micro-electromechanical system, and the micro-electromechanical system is used for adjusting the micro-mirror to rotate in a horizontal plane and a vertical plane; and the optical signal is input from the optical fiber input port, sequentially passes through the first collimating lens and the second collimating lens, is reflected by the MEMS micro-mirror, sequentially passes through the second collimating lens and the first collimating lens, and is coupled into the optical fiber output port for output.

Specifically, the two-dimensional optical fiber array comprises a square glass tube, and an input optical fiber and a plurality of output optical fibers arranged in the square glass tube.

Specifically, the first collimating lens is fixedly arranged inside the shell; the second collimating lens is movably arranged in the shell, the distance between the second collimating lens and the first collimating lens is adjustable, the aberration of the MEMS optical switch can be effectively corrected and optimized by adjusting the distance between the second collimating lens and the first collimating lens, and the combined lens has more aberration optimization variables, so that the aberration is easily optimized, and the aims of reducing coupling loss and optimizing the index uniformity among channels are fulfilled.

Preferably, the outer wall of the shell is provided with an adjusting piece, the top and the bottom of the second collimating lens are provided with sliding blocks, and the adjusting piece is connected with the second collimating lens through the sliding blocks; a sliding groove is formed in the inner wall of the shell along the direction of the central axis of the collimating lens II, and the sliding block moves in the sliding groove along the slotting direction; and the adjusting piece is manually slid to drive the sliding block to move along the sliding groove, so that the distance between the second collimating lens and the first collimating lens is adjusted.

Furthermore, scales are arranged on the outer wall of the shell corresponding to the sliding groove and used for checking the relative position of the second collimating lens and the first collimating lens.

Furthermore, the surface of the adjusting piece is provided with anti-slip lines, so that the adjusting piece can be conveniently slid manually.

Optionally, a sliding groove is formed in the inner wall of the shell along the central axis direction of the second collimating lens, and sliding blocks are arranged at the top and the bottom of the second collimating lens; the inner wall of the shell is provided with an electric push rod, the electric push rod comprises a motor and a telescopic rod, the telescopic rod is connected with the sliding block, the motor is used for driving the telescopic rod to stretch and retract, and the sliding block is driven to move in the sliding groove along the slotting direction.

Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the utility model are that: (1) the utility model adopts the combined lens to replace the prior single collimating lens, and the relative position between the combined lenses can be adjusted, thereby greatly optimizing the aberration of the optical system, improving the transverse expansion size of the optical fiber array and realizing the MEMS optical switch with higher port number; (2) the utility model discloses a high-end mouthful of number photoswitch is independent discrete optical device, need not realize through cascaded mode, possesses miniaturized size.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a MEMS optical switch with a high port number according to embodiment 1 of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an end face structure of a two-dimensional optical fiber array according to the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a MEMS optical switch with a high port number according to embodiment 2 of the present invention;

in the figure: 1. a housing; 2. a two-dimensional array of optical fibers; 3. a MEMS micro-mirror; 4. a first collimating lens; 5. a second collimating lens; 6. an adjustment member; 7. a slider; 8. a chute; 9. a motor; 10. a telescopic rod.

Detailed Description

The technical solution of the present invention will be described clearly and completely with reference to the accompanying drawings, and obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments, not all embodiments of the present invention. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by a person skilled in the art without creative efforts belong to the protection scope of the present invention.

Example 1

As shown in fig. 1, the present embodiment provides a high port-count MEMS optical switch, which includes a housing 1, wherein a two-dimensional fiber array 2, a combined lens element and a MEMS micro-mirror 3 are disposed inside the housing 1; the two-dimensional optical fiber array 2 comprises an optical fiber input port and a plurality of optical fiber output ports; the combined lens element comprises a first collimating lens 4 and a second collimating lens 5; the MEMS micro-mirror 3 comprises a micro-mirror and a micro-electromechanical system, and the micro-electromechanical system is used for adjusting the micro-mirror to rotate in a horizontal plane and a vertical plane; and an optical signal is input from the optical fiber input port, sequentially passes through the first collimating lens 4 and the second collimating lens 5, is reflected by the MEMS micro-mirror 3, sequentially passes through the second collimating lens 5 and the first collimating lens 4, and is coupled into the optical fiber output port for output.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 2, the two-dimensional optical fiber array 2 includes a square (or circular) glass tube, and one input optical fiber and a plurality of output optical fibers disposed within the glass tube.

Specifically, the collimating lens I4 is fixedly arranged inside the shell 1; the second collimating lens 5 is movably arranged in the shell 1, the distance between the second collimating lens 5 and the first collimating lens 4 is adjustable, the aberration of the MEMS optical switch can be effectively corrected and optimized by adjusting the distance between the second collimating lens 5 and the first collimating lens 4, and the aims of reducing coupling loss and optimizing index uniformity among channels are fulfilled.

Preferably, the outer wall of the shell 1 is provided with an adjusting piece 6, the top and the bottom of the second collimating lens 5 are provided with sliding blocks 7, and the adjusting piece 6 is connected with the second collimating lens 5 through the sliding blocks 7; a sliding groove 8 is formed in the inner wall of the shell 1 along the direction of the central axis of the second collimating lens 5, and the sliding block 7 moves in the sliding groove 8 along the slotting direction; the adjusting piece 6 is manually slid to drive the sliding block 7 to move along the sliding groove 8, so that the distance between the second collimating lens 5 and the first collimating lens 4 is adjusted.

Furthermore, scales are arranged on the outer wall of the shell 1 at positions corresponding to the sliding grooves 8, and are used for checking the relative positions of the second collimating lens 5 and the first collimating lens 4.

Furthermore, the surface of the adjusting piece 6 is provided with anti-slip lines, so that the adjusting piece 6 can be conveniently slid manually.

The optical path principle of this embodiment is: an optical signal enters from an optical fiber input port of the two-dimensional optical fiber array 2, is focused by a first collimating lens 4 and a second collimating lens 5 in sequence, is adjusted in reflection direction by an MEMS (micro-electromechanical system) micro-mirror 3, is changed into parallel light in sequence in a reverse direction through the second collimating lens 5, and is changed into divergent light in a reverse direction through the first collimating lens 4 to be coupled into an output optical fiber; by adjusting the reflection angle of the MEMS micro-mirror 3, the optical signals can be freely switched among the output ports of the two-dimensional optical fiber array 2; the aberration of the MEMS optical switch can be effectively corrected and optimized by adjusting the relative distance between the second collimating lens 5 and the first collimating lens 4, and the aims of reducing coupling loss and optimizing index uniformity among channels are fulfilled. Under the condition that the off-axis aberration is greatly optimized, the off-axis dimension of the two-dimensional optical fiber array 2 can be rapidly increased, so that a higher number of optical fiber arrays can be realized, and the extremely-small-dimension corrosion optical fiber array with low reliability does not need to be adopted. The utility model discloses be favorable to realizing the MEMS photoswitch of higher port figure, have that small-size and reliability height are high showing the advantage.

Example 2

As shown in fig. 3, the present embodiment provides a MEMS optical switch with a high port number, which is different from embodiment 1 in that in the present embodiment, the relative positions of the second collimating lens 5 and the first collimating lens 4 are adjusted by means of an electric push rod, so as to effectively correct and optimize the aberration of the MEMS optical switch.

A sliding groove 8 is formed in the inner wall of the shell 1 along the direction of the central axis of the second collimating lens 5, and sliding blocks 7 are arranged at the top and the bottom of the second collimating lens 5; the inner wall of the shell 1 is provided with an electric push rod, the electric push rod comprises a motor 9 and a telescopic rod 10, the telescopic rod 10 is connected with the sliding block 7, the motor 9 is used for driving the telescopic rod 10 to stretch and retract, and the sliding block 7 is driven to move in the sliding groove 8 along the slotting direction.

In particular, the motor 9 is a stepper motor.

In the embodiment, the relative distance between the second collimating lens 5 and the first collimating lens 4 is electrically controlled, so that the aberration of the MEMS optical switch can be effectively corrected and optimized more accurately.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. The MEMS optical switch with the high port number is characterized by comprising a shell, wherein a two-dimensional optical fiber array, a combined lens element and an MEMS micro-mirror are arranged in the shell; the two-dimensional optical fiber array comprises an optical fiber input port and a plurality of optical fiber output ports; the combined lens element comprises a first collimating lens and a second collimating lens; the MEMS micro-mirror comprises a micro-mirror and a micro-electromechanical system, and the micro-electromechanical system is used for adjusting the micro-mirror to rotate in a horizontal plane and a vertical plane; and the optical signal is input from the optical fiber input port, sequentially passes through the first collimating lens and the second collimating lens, is reflected by the MEMS micro-mirror, sequentially passes through the second collimating lens and the first collimating lens, and is coupled into the optical fiber output port for output.

2. A high port count MEMS optical switch as claimed in claim 1, wherein said two dimensional array of optical fibers comprises a square or circular glass tube and one input optical fiber and a plurality of output optical fibers disposed within said glass tube.

3. A high port count MEMS optical switch as claimed in claim 1, wherein said collimating lens is fixedly disposed within the housing; the second collimating lens is movably arranged in the shell, and the distance between the second collimating lens and the first collimating lens is adjustable.

4. The high port number MEMS optical switch of claim 3, wherein the housing has an adjusting member on the outer wall, the collimating lens two has a slider on the top and the bottom, and the adjusting member is connected to the collimating lens two via the slider; and a sliding groove is formed in the inner wall of the shell along the direction of the central axis of the second collimating lens, and the sliding block moves in the sliding groove along the slotting direction.

5. The high port-count MEMS optical switch of claim 4, wherein the outer wall of the housing is provided with a scale corresponding to the position of the sliding groove.

6. A high port count MEMS optical switch as claimed in claim 4, wherein said actuator surface is provided with anti-slip texture.

7. The high port number MEMS optical switch of claim 3, wherein the inner wall of the housing has a sliding groove along the central axis of the second collimating lens, and the top and the bottom of the second collimating lens have sliding blocks; the inner wall of the shell is provided with an electric push rod, the electric push rod comprises a motor and a telescopic rod, the telescopic rod is connected with the sliding block, the motor is used for driving the telescopic rod to stretch and retract, and the sliding block is driven to move in the sliding groove along the slotting direction.