Optical switch with an oscillating magnet armature

摘要

An optical switch has an electromagnetic driving mechanism (1) that includes a U-shaped magnetic core having an intermediate portion between two leg parts, a coil wound on the U-shaped magnetic core, an armature (2) having two end portions that can face each other on the two leg parts and supported in such a manner that the armature can make an oscillating motion, and a permanent magnet arranged to apply a magnetic flux to the U-shaped magnetic core and the armature. The optical switch also has a mirror (3) as an optical path switching unit directly fixed on the armature (2), an incidence-side optical fiber (4) for making light incident on the mirror, and emission-side optical fibers (5,6) where the light with its optical path switched by the mirror (3) is coupled.