Pressure-actuated bi-stable optical switching

The optical switch recited in claim wherein said potential profile is formed, at least in part, by a change in size of said cavity.

A communication system comprising:

• an optical switch optically communicating with an input transmission medium, said optical switch defining an optical path, said optical switch having a cavity intersecting said optical path to define a first position that is defined by a first surface having a first wettability along said optical path and a second position that is defined by a second surface having a second wettability displaced from said optical path, the first wettability being different than the second wettability, an index-matching liquid within said cavity, said index-matching liquid having an index of refraction closer to an index of refraction of said optical path than to that of a vacuum, and a pressure generator for generating pressure that selective moves said liquid between said first and second positions, said cavity exhibiting a potential profile for, while said pressure generator is not generating pressure, maintaining said liquid in the one of said first and second positions to which it was most recently moved.

A method of switching an optical signal being transmitted along an optical path, said method comprising generating pressure so as to move an index-matching liquid between a first potential well having a first wettability along said path and a second potential well having a second wettability displaced from said path, the first wettability being different than the second wettability.