Optical switches are used for the quick read out and efficient switching of measurement light sources.
Assembly
Input and output fibers are exactly arranged in a precision array. The light emerging from the input fiber is bundled into a parallel beam by a collimator lens of a micro-optical lens array. Using a reflecting prism, the light is fed through the corresponding element of the lens array back to the output fiber. Switching occurs when fine optical precision elements are introduced into the beam.
Due to the combination of micro-mechanical and micro-optical solutions, flexibility, long-term stability, and excellent optical performance can be guaranteed.
Variations and Properties
With switching times of ≤2 ms, a lifetime of >108 switching cycles can be guaranteed. The switches are available in single-mode (SM), multi-mode (MM), and polarization-maintaining (PM) versions. Depending on the version, the insertion loss lies between 0.7 dB and 1.0 dB. Due to the high precision of the switching units, a repetition accuracy of 0.005 dB, for example, can be achieved in the standard SM switch.
