Optical characterization of 9x9 optical cross connect utilizing silicon lens scanners with spider-leg actuators

This paper presents a 9×9 OXC (Optical Cross Connect) utilizing two-dimensional micro-lens scanners, each of which consists of eight 'L' shaped (spider-leg) stage-suspension springs and rotational comb-drive actuators. Silicon was used as a lens material because of the mechanical stability and optical transparency to infrared wavelength of 1.55 μm. The micro lens scanner was fabricated by lens-profile-transferring to the structural layer of an SOI wafer by the RIE (reactive ion etching) from thermally reflowed photoresist. The XY stage moved more than 55 μm independently in the X and Y directions with applied voltage of 65 V. In optical measurement, the coupling loss was 13 dB, and channel uniformity of 9×9 OXC was less than 4.5 dB.