| 摘要 |
A totally photonic switch having a pair of D-optical fibers by which optical energy can be efficiently coupled at high speed from one D-fiber to the other. The cores of the D-fibers are held in close proximity to one another at opposite sides of a thin (e.g., film) evanescent coupling region that is fabricated from a doped semiconductor based material (e.g., silicon dioxide). A pair of thin metal electrodes are located between the pair of D-fibers and the opposite sides of the evanescent coupling region by which to cause the coupling region to become electrooptic, to bond the fibers to the coupling region, and to receive a controlled voltage from a DC voltage source. Optical energy is coupled (i.e., switched) between the D-fibers depending upon the magnitude of the voltage applied to the electrodes. A plurality of such totally photonic switches can be arranged to form a coupler network on a semiconductor wafer so as to route optical signals over a selected switch path between input and output sides of the network.
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