Optical cross-connect device based on liquid crystal electro-optical waveguide

Abstract

The invention discloses an optical cross-connect device based on a liquid crystal electro-optical waveguide. The optical cross-connect device comprises an optical cross-connect device body, the optical cross-connect device body is constituted by an array of optical switches based on the liquid crystal electro-optical waveguide, all the optical switches control formation and disappearance of the liquid crystal electro-optical waveguide through driving voltage, a light beam propagation path is switched, and switching of N x N multiport optical signals is achieved. On the basis of guaranteeing optical loss, port extendibility and switching speed equivalent to a MEMS device, the optical cross-connect device has the advantages of having smaller device size, low driving voltage and energy dissipation, good single-chip integration, higher robustness and the like, multiport optical exchanging with high performance and good single-chip integration can be achieved, the optical cross-connect device is applicable to exchanging application of a data center, and thus the optical cross-connect device has application and popularization value. 本发明公开了一种基于液晶电光波导的光学交叉互连器件，包括光学交叉互连器件本体，所述光学交叉互连器件本体由基于液晶电光波导的光开关阵列组成，各个所述光开关通过驱动电压控制液晶电光波导的形成和消失，切换光束传播路径，实现N x N多端口光信号的交换。本发明在保证实现与MEMS器件相当的光学损耗、端口扩展性和切换速度的基础上，具有更小的器件尺寸、低驱动电压和能耗、良好的单片集成，以及更强的鲁棒性等优势，可以实现高性能的多端口光交换，以及良好的单片集成，适用于数据中心的交换应用，从而具有推广应用价值。