Patent ID: 7082233

Claim:
An optical switch comprising: a polymer film including an internal linearly extending optical waveguide and a notch, the notch extending across the switching portion and being centrally located in said optical waveguide; a keep plate having a switching through hole transverse to said polymer film, said polymer film being clamped by said keep plate with said switching portion located within said switching through hole; and driving means for selecting a route of light propagating in said optical waveguide by approximating and separating a gap of said notch, wherein said notch is formed by precedently forming a starting groove in a first surface of said polymer film and pressing said switching portion with a pressing member from a second surface of said polymer film, opposite the first surface of said polymer film, while clamping said polymer film with said keep plate, thereby causing cleavage of said polymer film at said starting groove, and said starting groove is located above a center of said optical waveguide by a distance longer than half the mode field diameter of a beam propagating through said optical waveguide.