Patent ID: 6501869
Filing Date: 2002-12-31
Classification: G02B

Abstract:
An optical switch comprising:a. a plurality of optical wave.guide switches, each of said plurality of optical waveguide switches comprising: i. an optical waveguide including: 1. a substrate having a hollow channel running through said substrate, said hollow channel having a beginning and an end; 2. a plate residing atop said hollow channel; 3. an input aperture at said beginning of said hollow channel; and 4. an output aperture at said end of said hollow channel; ii. a plurality of micro-mechanical deflectable cantilevered beam mirrors formed in said plate oriented along said optical waveguide, said micro-mechanical deflectable cantilevered beam mirrors having: 1. a deflected position where said micro-mechanical deflectable cantilevered beam mirrors are operably deflected out of the plane of said plate into said hollow channel for intercepting an optical signal and deflecting said optical signal out of the plane of said hollow waveguide; and 2. a non-deflected position where said micro-mechanical deflectable cantilevered beam mirrors remain in the plane of said plate; iii. a plurality of mirror apertures, each of said plurality of mirror apertures operably formed when each of said micro-mechanical deflectable cantilevered beam mirrors are in their deflected position; b. at least two layers, each of said layers comprising at least one of said optical waveguide switches; c. an optical waveguide switch stack comprising at least two of said layers stacked so that at least one of said plurality of mirror apertures from each of said optical waveguide switches on adjacent said layers are aligned; d. at least one input optical interface, each of said input optical interfaces attached to one of said input apertures for receiving an optical signal from at least one external source; and e. at least one output optical interface, each of said output optical interfaces attached to one of said output apertures for said optical signal to pass from said optical switch to at least one external receiver.