Method and structure for a slug assisted longitudinal piezoelectrically actuated liquid metal optical switch
AssigneeAgilent Technologies, Inc.
InventorsArthur Fong, Marvin Glenn Wong
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and structure for an optical switch. A channel is housed within a solid material. Contacts coupled to the channel are further coupled to the solid material, while a plurality of piezoelectric elements are coupled to chamber and further coupled to a slug. Optical waveguides are coupled to the channel. The contacts are coupled to a plurality of liquid metal globules, wherein one or more of the plurality of liquid metal globules are coupled to a slug. One or more piezoelectric elements are actuated, causing the slug to be moved within the channel. The motion of the slug is operable to block or unblock one or more of the plurality of optical waveguides.
Claims37
A structure for an optical switch, comprising:
- a channel housed within a solid material;
- a plurality of contacts within the channel, wherein the plurality of contacts are coupled to the solid material;
- a plurality of liquid metal globules, coupled to the plurality of contacts;
- a slug, coupled to one or more of the plurality of liquid metal globules and coupled to one or more of the plurality of contacts;
- a plurality of piezoelectric elements coupled to the channel and operable to be coupled to the slug;
- and
- a plurality of optical waveguides coupled to the channel, said plurality of optical waveguides operable to be blocked or unblocked by the slug.
The structure of claim 15, wherein the gas substantially fills one or more locations within the channel that are not used by the slug, the plurality of contacts, the plurality of liquid metal globules, and the plurality of piezoelectric elements.
A structure for an optical switch, comprising:
- a via layer, said via layer comprising one or more vias;
- a piezoelectric layer coupled to the via layer, said piezoelectric layer comprising a channel coupled to the one or more vias, wherein the channel comprises and is further coupled to a plurality of contacts, a wettable slug, a plurality of piezoelectric elements, and a plurality of liquid metal globules;
- a wetting pad substrate layer coupled to the piezoelectric layer, said wetting pad substrate layer coupled to the plurality of contacts;
- and
- a plurality of optical waveguides coupled to the piezoelectric layer.
The structure of claim 26, wherein the one or more vias are oriented so that a via of the one or more vias is located between a longitudinal end of the channel and a contact of the plurality of contacts.
A method for switching of one or more optical signals using a liquid metal switch, comprising:
- actuating one or more piezoelectric elements;
- moving a slug housed within a channel by the actuation of the one or more piezoelectric elements;
- the motion of the slug blocking or unblocking one or more optical waveguides.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.