Optical Switching

Optical switching refers to a phenomenon in which transmission of an optical field

through a device is switched among two or more possible states by optical means.

From: Encyclopedia of Materials: Science and Technology, 2001

Related terms:

Ligand, Quantum Dot, Refractive Index, Liquid Crystal, Optical Property, Wave-
length, Nonlinear Optical Property

View all Topics

Nonlinear Effects in Optical Fibers

G.P. Agrawal, in Encyclopedia of Materials: Science and Technology, 2001

2.3 Nonlinear Optical Switching

Optical switching refers to a phenomenon in which transmission of an optical field
through a device is switched among two or more possible states by optical means. In
the case of nonlinear optical switching, the device transmission is intensity-depen-
dent such that the optical beam itself induces switching depending on its intensity.
SPM occurring in an optical fiber is well suited for this application and its use results
in all-fiber devices capable of switching on a femtosecond time scale (Islam 1992).

The SPM-based optical switching is realized in practice by using an interferometer.

Any interferometer can be used for this purpose, including Fabry–Perot, Michel-
son, Sagnac, and Mach–Zehnder interferometers. Figure 2 shows schematically the
design of two fiber-based interferometers. A Sagnac interferometer is commonly
used since it can be constructed by using a fiber coupler whose two output ports
are connected together to form a loop. The input pulse enters from one port and is
split into two counterpropagating pulses at the fiber coupler, which interfere at the
coupler after acquiring a relative phase shift during one round trip through the loop.
The pulse is transmitted through the other open port or is reflected back to the input
port depending on the relative phase shift. Such a device acts as a perfect mirror at
low powers (the linear regime) when the fiber coupler splits the pulse equally (a 50:50
coupler) and is called a fiber-loop mirror. However, if the coupler splits the pulse
unequally, the same device acts as an all-optical switch because of the SPM-induced
nonlinear phase shift and is referred to as the nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM).
This fiber device has attracted considerable attention and has found applications not
only for optical switching but also for mode locking and wavelength demultiplexing.

Figure 2. Schematic illustration of fiber-based (a) Mach–Zehnder and (b) Sagnac

interferometers. The latter device is also called a nonlinear optical loop mirror
(NOLM).

Switching characteristics of a NOLM depend on the splitting ratio of the fiber

coupler. If a fraction f of the input power P0 travels in the clockwise direction (see
Fig. 2), then the transmittivity for a loop of length L is obtained by calculating the
phase shifts acquired during a round trip by the counterpropagating optical waves,
and then recombining them interferometrically at the coupler. The result is given by

(14)

For f=0.5 the loop reflectivity is 100% for all powers. However, if the splitting fraction
f is different from 0.5, then the NOLM can act as a switch.

Figure 3 shows the transmitted power as a function of P0 for two values of f. At

low powers, little light is transmitted if f is close to 0.5 since Tm≈1–4f (1−f ). At
high powers, the nonlinear phase shift leads to complete transmission whenever
|1–2f| P0L=(2m−1)π, where m is an integer. As seen in Fig. 3, the NOLM switches
from low to high transmission periodically as input power increases. In practice,
only the first transmission peak (m=1) is used for switching because it requires the
least power. In fact, switching power is rather high even for m=1. For this reason,
experiments on nonlinear optical switching typically use ultrashort optical pulses to
obtain high peak powers. However, only the central part of the pulse is generally
intense enough to experience switching, leading to pulse distortion. This problem
can be solved by using optical solitons as input pulses since solitons switch as a
whole entity because of their particle-like nature (Islam 1992).
Figure 3. Transmitted power as a function of incident power incident on a nonlinear
optical loop mirror for two values of the splitting ratio f.

The switching threshold of a NOLM can be reduced considerably by incorporating an

optical amplifier within the loop. If the amplifier is located close to the fiber coupler,
its presence introduces an asymmetry such that even a 50:50 coupler ( f=0.5) can be
employed. This feature can be understood by noting that one wave is amplified at the
entrance to the loop while the counterpropagating wave experiences amplification
just before exiting the loop. Since the intensities of the two waves differ by a large
amount throughout the loop, the differential phase shift can be quite large. In fact,
assuming that the clockwise wave is amplified first by a factor G, Eqn. (14) becomes

(15)

For f=0.5 the switching power for m=1 becomes P0=2π/[(G−1) L]. Since the ampli-
fication factor G is typically 30 dB, the switching power is reduced by a factor of
1000. Such a device, referred to as the nonlinear amplifying loop mirror, provides
switching with gain and can switch at power levels below 1 mW.

The NOLM has found many applications. It can be used for pulse shaping because of
its intensity-dependent transmission. For example, if a short optical pulse contains
a broad pedestal, the pedestal can be removed by passing it through such a device.
Its use for passive mode locking permits generation of femtosecond pulses in
figure-eight fiber lasers (Duling 1995). Another important application of NOLM is
for demultiplexing of individual channels in a multichannel lightwave system.

> Read full chapter

Optical Communications
T. Singh, D.M. Marom, in Reference Module in Materials Science and Materials
Engineering, 2017
4.5.3 Wavelength-selective K×K switches
The optical switching requirement at network nodes originates from K fibers, carry-
ing N DWDM channels. The number of individually switched channels is therefore
K×N, which can quickly scale to many hundreds of channels. For precisely that
reason, large port count OXCs were developed. However, the switching functionality
can also be provided by using 2K modules of 1×K WSS (or even K modules as in
Figure 30; Marom et al., 2003b). This elegant solution provides all the switching
functionality carried by K(K−1) interconnecting fibers between the WSS modules. If
we assume that four fibers are introduced, K=4, and each fiber carries 80 channels,
N=80, then all the traffic is routed on 12 fibers using four WSS modules. The OXC
alternative requires K×N=320 fibers in both input and output sides, a fiber manage-
ment nightmare! The entire architecture can even be implemented in planar optics
with specially integrated free-space tilting micromirrors on a single silicon wafer (Chi
et al., 2006). Another alternative is the wavelength-selective K×K switch, or WSXC.
The WSXC internally handles the demultiplexing, switching, and remultiplexing of
all K input/output fibers, further reducing the fiber management complexity, at the
expense of complex switch architecture.
Figure 30. Top: Wavelength-selective K×K cross-connect architecture comprising
individual 1×K wavelength-selective switches (WSSs) in a broadcast and select archi-
tecture. Bottom: Planar implementation of 4×4 wavelength-selective cross-connect
architecture on a single silicon wafer.(Source: Chi, C.H., et al., 2006. Silicon-based,
monolithic, 4×4 wavelength-selective switch with on-chip micromirrors. In: Optical
Fiber Conference (OFC 2006), Anaheim, CA, © 2006 IEEE.)

A demonstrated WSXC introduced PLCs with demultiplexer and multiplexer func-

tionality into a transparent OXC fabric (Ryf et al., 2001). The custom PLC placed the
demultiplexed waveguides on a pitch P=1.25 mm matched to a microlens array and
the micromirror array. The collimated beams were incident onto the micromirrors
for switching, much the same way as the collimated beams a from a fiber array
are generated. The passband performance of the WSXC is dictated by the demulti-
plexer/multiplexer implementation, which are typically not as wide and flat as those
achieved by regular WSS. Thus, cascadability using this solution is questionable.
A reported alternative performs the demultiplexing with a free-space grating, and
selects the bandwidth for switching by the MEMS micromirror array (Solgaard et
al., 2002). With this solution, the bandwidth is defined by the micromirror array fill
factor and shape, much the same as for the WSS. However, there is little information
on any implementation attempts of this WSXC.

> Read full chapter

Switching based on optical nonlinear

effects
M.P. Fok, P.R. Prucnal, in Optical Switches, 2010

7.4.2 NOLM with external control signal

In many optical switching applications such as demultiplexing in optical time divi-
sion multiplexing (TDM), it is desired to have the switching operation determined
by an external control signal. In 1990, Blow, Doran, Nayar and Nelson demonstrated
an NOLM that switches out the input 1.5 μm CW light with a 1.3 μm control signal.
The configuration is shown in Fig. 7.3. Since the coupler of the loop has a coupling
ratio of 50:50 for the signal, but it is 100:0 for the control signal, the control signal
only co-propagates with the clockwise signal but not with the counter-clockwise
one. Since XPM in fiber is directional, only the clockwise signal experiences a
nonlinear phase shift while the counter-clockwise signal does not, resulting in a
phase difference between the two counter-propagating beams after propagating in
the nonlinear medium. Optical demultiplexing from 491.8 to 75.66 MHz is achieved
(Blow, Doran, Nayar and Nelson, 1990) using the above scheme, i.e. every 13th pulse
is switched out. Using polarization-maintaining fiber and couplers, the NOLM was
later modified (Avramopoulos et al., 1991) so that the same wavelength can be used
for both the signal and the pump, while the signal and pump are separated based
on their polarization difference.

7.3. Configuration of an NOLM with external optical control.

In 1992, Andrekson et al. performed a demultiplexing of 64 Gb s− 1 signal to 4 Gb

s− 1 signal using 14 km of DSF, using the configuration as shown in Fig. 7.4. The
signal is injected at the input of the loop as indicated by E1, while the control signal
is injected inside the fiber loop through an optical coupler, instead of injecting it
at the input of the fiber loop. In the fiber loop, the control signal only affects the
co-propagating beam but not the counter-propagating one. Therefore, a nonlinear
phase shift is induced in the co-propagating beam, resulting in a phase difference
between the two counter-propagating beams. An optical bandpass filter is placed at
the output of the loop to block the control signal while letting the demultiplexed
signal pass through.

7.4. Configuration of an NOLM with in-loop optical control. BPF: optical bandpass
filter.
The use of optical fiber as the nonlinear medium gives an instantaneous response
to the induced nonlinearity and works well with high-speed signals. However, a
long piece of fiber (kilometers long) is required and the required switching power
is relatively high. The use of an SOA reduces the switching power and increases the
compactness of the scheme. However, the slow recovery time of an SOA limits its us-
age in high-speed systems. Sokoloff et al. (1993) demonstrated an SOA-based NOLM
demultiplexer with a tunable switching window that is capable of demultiplexing Tb
s− 1 pulse trains. The configuration of the SOA-based NOLM, called terahertz optical
asymmetric demultiplexer, is shown in Fig. 7.5, where an SOA is offset by Δx from
the center of a short fiber loop. The control signal is injected into the loop through
an optical coupler. Unlike nonlinear fiber, XPM in SOA is non-directional, i.e. the
control signal affects both the co-propagating (E3) and counter-propagating (E2)
signals. The operational principle is shown in Fig. 7.6. Due to the offset of SOA from
the midpoint, the input signal from the clockwise direction arrives at the SOA earlier
than the one from the counter-clockwise direction, where the delay is equal to two
times the offset of the SOA from the middle of the loop. The control signal is adjusted
such that it arrives in between the arrival time of the two counter-propagating
signals at the SOA. The control signal induces a nonlinear phase shift into pulses
B and C in the counter-clockwise beam, while only pulse C in the clockwise beam
experiences the induced phase shift. As shown in Fig. 7.6, the offset in the SOA
creates a switching window, where its width depends on the SOA offset in the TOAD.
Only the pulse that falls inside the switching window (i.e. having different phase shift
in the two counter-propagating branches) is directed to the output while the rest are
being reflected back. The TOAD requires low switching energy and has the ability of
switching at 50 Gb s− 1 or higher.

7.5. Configuration of a terahertz optical asymmetric demultiplexer (TOAD). SOA:

semiconductor optical amplifier; BPF: optical bandpass filter.
7.6. Operation principle of TOAD. SOA: semiconductor optical amplifier; CCW:
counter-clockwise; CW: clockwise.

Considerable effort has been made to improve the NOLM. To enhance the switching
extinction ratio, Raman amplification is introduced to the NOLM (Starodumov et
al., 1998). A long piece of fiber providing nonlinearity inside the loop is a perfect
medium for Raman amplification, and the amplification increases as the control
signal increases. A polarization-insensitive NOLM is also developed using twisted
fiber (Liang et al., 1999) and polarization diversity (Olsson and Andrekson, 1997). In
2002, Sotobayashi et al. demonstrated demultiplexing of a 320 Gb s− 1 signal using
100 m of highly nonlinear DSF in NOLM. The supported data rate is almost three
orders of magnitude higher compared with the first NOLM built in 1990. Due to the
fast development of nonlinear fibers, the size of NOLM has shrunk quickly, offering
a compact solution to optical switching. NOLM with just 11 m of highly Ge-doped
fiber is demonstrated for the demultiplexing of a 160 Gb s− 1 signal (Kravtsov et al.,
2009) and optical logic (Kostinski et al., 2009).

> Read full chapter

Photoassisted Poling and Photoswitch-

ing of NLO Properties of Spiropyrans
and Other Photochromic Molecules in
Polymers and Crystals
Jacques A. Delaire, ... Keitaro Nakatani, in Photoreactive Organic Thin Films, 2002

10.4.4 Potential Applications

Obtaining an efficient NLO switching material is not easy, because reversibility
of molecular change provided by a reversible chemical reaction does not always
imply the reversibility of macroscopic physical properties. Further studies should
focus on the photochromic molecule itself as well as on the type of material used.
On a molecular scale, a photochrome exhibiting large differences between the
two properties of the two forms and efficient conversion should be examined.
Concerning the material, there is a subtle trade-off between the rigidity so that
disorientation can be avoided, and flexibility so that the photochromic reaction can
efficiently take place.

Regarding potential applications, in terms of writing and reading stored information

on photochromic materials, the nonresonant character of NLO enables reading
outside the absorption band. Thus, erasure during reading can be avoided. Another
possible application deals with the quasi-phase matching structure that can be
obtained by switching. To the best of our knowledge, quasi-phase matching based
on alternation of two molecular species, one obtained by isomerization of the other,
has never been realized.

> Read full chapter

Applications
J.-Y. Moisan, ... A.A. Tomasov, in CdTe and Related Compounds; Physics, Defects,
Hetero- and Nano-structures, Crystal Growth, Surfaces and Applications, 2010

1 Introduction
For optical telecommunication networks, optical switching systems have been stud-
ied, and some systems using integrated optics have been proposed, but a spatial
holographic interconnect is also an attractive solution for switching of high bite rate
channels. Holographic gratings can be used to steer the optical beams, emerging
from an input matrix of single-mode optical fibres to an output matrix of sin-
gle-mode optical fibres. Two characteristics have to be fulfilled in such a system: it
must be active at the telecommunication signal wavelength, that is, 1.3 and 1.5 μm,
and must be managed as large a number of channels as possible.

Photothermoplastic devices have been proposed [1] and, in such an optical configu-
ration, two recording beams are used in the visible range (their wavelength depend-
ing on the sensitivity of the recording material) and their reading beams, at 1.3 or
1.5 μm, are deflected by the recorded gratings. In this case, the photothermoplastic
device is not sensitive to the signal wavelength.

With photorefractive materials, it is possible to imagine an optical system where the

signal beam is active itself. Thus, in two-wave mixing (TWM) experiments, which
are commonly used to estimate the properties of photorefractive crystals, one can
consider that the studied material is active to the wavelength used. In an optical
switching system used in an optical network, it is essential that the photorefractive
crystals are sensitive to the communication wavelengths; this is the first require-
ment. The second requirement, concerning aberrations in optical configurations, is
that the single-mode fibres could be used as an input and output signal source, with
little loss.

First, the photorefractive effect will be presented and the properties discussed. Next
results, obtained with CdTe materials, will be given and discussed. And finally, an
optical configuration will be presented and the first results of a beam-steering
system presented.

> Read full chapter

NANOSTRUCTURED MATERIALS,
MICELLES, AND COLLOIDS
J. Fick, in Handbook of Surfaces and Interfaces of Materials, 2001

6.3.1 All-Optical Switching Devices

Different geometries for all-optical switching devices, such as directional couplers,
Mach-Zehnder interferometers, or nonlinear crossings, have been proposed. An
exhaustive review of this subject can be found in [212].

Figure 22 shows the principle of a nonlinear directional coupler. It is in general

desirable to have a half-beat length coupler.

Fig. 22. Schematic representation of the half beat nonlinear directional coupler
operation.

In this device complete power transfer from the bar to the cross arm is achieved in
the low-power case. In the high-power case, the induced nonlinear index change in
the bar arm decreases the coupling efficiency, and most of the energy remains in
the bar arm. This switching operation is based on a pure phase change, i.e., a pure
real nonlinear susceptibility (Im (3) = 0). In semiconductors operating close to the
band gap, however, it is also possible to exploit the imaginary part of (3). In this case,
the light intensities in the two arms differ as a function of distance, and the induced
differential absorption saturation can be interpreted as switching.

Finlayson et al. fabricated a directional coupler in semiconductor-doped glass

by using ion exchange [221]. They observed picosecond switching dynamics. The
functional dependence on the incident light intensity showed, however, that the
switching is dominated by absorption. Ion exchange was also used by Guntau et al.
to produce directional stripe and bent waveguide couplers in Cd(S,Se) commercial
glasses [219]. Principle agreement was found between the observed switching be-
havior and the theoretical predictions.

Mayweather et al. used the basic physical parameters of SDG to compute the power
and length requirements of an all-optical waveguide switch [222]. Their modeling
shows that the usefulness of the material depends critically on the pump and
signal wavelengths. Specifically, the power requirement is lowest when the signal
wavelength is close to and just below the semiconductor band gap, and the pump
wavelength is close to and just above the band gap. The length requirements are in
the 5–20-mm range, which is low enough for many practical applications. However,
under optimum conditions the peak power required for switching in standard CdTe
or Cd(S,Se)-doped glass waveguides is quite high, in the range of 2–100 W for a
high-confinement fiber. This high power requirement makes these materials in their
actual form not the best choice for all-optical switching devices. It was stated that the
main physical limitation is the largely nonradiative nature of the carrier relaxation.
Over a broad range of nonradiative lifetimes ( nr rad), the switching power is shown
to scale with the ratio of radiative to total carrier lifetime rad/ . This dependency
points to a potential trade-off between the response time of the switch and its
power requirement. Specifically, increasing the nonradiative lifetime would reduce
the switching power by the same factor. This could be accomplished by increasing
the size of the semiconductor nanoparticles. A sufficient lifetime increase (by a
factor of 100 or more) would give a practical device, driven by a laser diode and
capable of operating at a GHz rate.

The above-presented devices are based on the induction of a nonlinear phase shift in
one arm of an interferometric device. A different approach, based on the band filling
effect, was proposed by Ma et al. [223]. They used a modified self-diffraction set-up
(see Section 3.2.1. In this technique, a nonlinear diffraction grating is produced by
the interference pattern of two pump beams on a thin SDG sample. As the nonlinear
effect is based on the band filling of the semiconductor quantum dots, the grating
can be erased by a third laser beam that saturates the absorption band. Thus, the
diffracted intensity is monitored by the third laser beam tuned to the obtained max-
imum of absorption. The feasibility of this technique was demonstrated by obtaining
a subnanosecond dark pulse, temporally limited by the carrier recombination time.

A further approach of fast, all-optical switching in SDGs consists of the polariza-

tion-rotation switch. In this geometry a pump and a probe beam with crossed
polarizations are focused onto the sample with a small angle between them. A
polarization analyzer placed on the probe beam and behind the sample is adjusted
to totally block the probe beam. Now, when the pump beam is present, the probe
beam polarization is rotated because of the optical Kerr effect, and a fraction of its
intensity is transmitted by the analyzer. The transmitted power is given by Ps = P0 sin2
( /2), where = 2πLn2Ip/3 , Ip is the pump intensity, and L is the sample thickness.
In the limit of small polarization rotation, Ps is proportional to 2 or to the square
of the pump intensity . To obtain a short switching time, the wavelength has to be
chosen in the transparent region of the SDG, to ensure that its nonresonant and fast
Kerr nonlinearity is exploited. A contrast of 10 dB was obtained for a fluence of only
0.12 µJ/cm2 (peak power of 17 W) [224]. The switching time of 3 ps was limited by
the laser pulse duration, estimated to 3.2 ps. The use of a femtosecond laser made
it possible to observe switching times shorter than 50 fs and a contrast of 16 dB at
a fluence of 1.5 µJ/cm2 (10 MW/cm2) [225].

> Read full chapter

Liquid crystal optical switches

C. Vázquez Garcìa, ... B. Fracasso, in Optical Switches, 2010

8.1 Introduction
Bandwidth demand in telecommunications is continuously growing; this makes
necessary the use of all-optical switches without any conversion to electrical form.
But it is important to delimit where to apply optical switching (Ferguson, 2006)
and more specifically where to apply liquid crystal (LC) technologies. As they
cannot respond faster than several microseconds, we shall focus in this chapter
on space-switching, for telecom and sensor applications, in protection and recov-
ery applications, and optical add/drop multiplexing, which need fewer restrictions
about switching time. Protection and recovery refers to those networks in which
an additional path is implemented in order to maintain the transmission when a
failure is detected. Optical add/drop multiplexers (OAD Ms) residing in network
nodes insert (add) or extract (drop) optical channels (wavelengths) to or from the
wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical transmission stream. If they can
be reconfigured, they are named ROADM. They can be used as building blocks for
optical cross-connect (OXC), a switching matrix for provisioning lightpaths, where
any input optical channel can be connected to any output. As an example, although
the determination of the minimum response time required for WDM, transport
network restoration or flexible bandwidth allocation depends on several network
management and service-related issues, it is widely agreed that the switching time
of an OXC should not exceed a few tens of milliseconds (MacDonald et al., 2000).
On the other hand, packet switching applications require faster switches, in the
nanosecond range (Liu et al., 2006). Hence, they will not be considered here.

Before describing the basic principles of LC optical switching, it is important to dis-

cuss, in brief, the optical parameters which are taken into account when evaluating
an optical switch (Papadimitriou et al., 2003). To define these parameters properly,
one should consider only one active input (with incoming light) as shown in Fig. 8.1.

8.1. Optical switch schematic for parameters definition.

• Insertion loss (IL): This is the fraction of the signal power that is lost between
an input and an output-connected port of the switch. This loss is measured
in decibels and must be as small as possible. IL value of a switch should be
uniform over the input–output connections.[8.1]
• Crosstalk: ratio of the power leaked to the non-switched output to the input
power. It is used to measure the signal interference between channels. This
ratio should be low.[8.2]
• Switching time: time elapsed from the switching command to the moment the
IL of the switch path achieves 90% of its final value.
• Polarization-dependent loss (PDL): peak-to-peak difference in transmission for
light with orthogonal states of polarization. Optical switches must have low
PDL (typically < 0.5 dB).
• Power consumption: electrical power that the switch requires for operation.

• Scalability: ability to obtain switches with a greater number of ports from a

basic low-port count structure.

Other parameters which are only relevant in telecom applications are bit rate or
amount of bits per second that the switch can manage and polarization mode
dispersion (PMD), due to the fact that various states of polarization travel at slightly
different speeds when they pass through the switch.

In the framework of these parameters, LC switches in general terms have the

following advantages: they have low IL – less than 6 dB to access 40–80 chan-
nels, outstanding uniformity, on the order of 1 dB across all the channels, good
CT, better than − 40 dB (Hardy, 1999), low PDL, low consumption, broadband
capability. They use a mature technology and have no moving parts for switch
reconfiguration. Others technologies could have lower IL or lower CT, but LC puts
all these parameters together in a robust package. Also nowadays, having in mind
recommendations of the Kyoto Protocol and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change, low power consumption is a key aspect and because of that there is a
need to evaluate and reduce Information and Communication Technologies Impact
on the Energy Footprint. In that respect, it is estimated that by 2020, the power
consumption related to ICT will be 1/7th of total (Pickavet and Tucker, 2008) and LC
in switching matrices might alleviate this.

For a better understanding of the potential of LCs in switching, LC materials prop-

erties and principles are reviewed. Then a description of the main types of switches
based on the mechanisms used for steering light, their parameters and specific
applications are presented. Future trends and recent developments are discussed
in the last section.

> Read full chapter

DMF for Optofluidic Microdevices*

Jean Berthier, in Micro-Drops and Digital Microfluidics (Second Edition), 2013

11.4 Electrowetting-actuated micromirrors

Microoptical systems and micromirrors are essential for optical switching, scanning,
modulating, and imaging. It has been found that the electrowetting effect was well
adapted to the actuation of micromirrors [20,21]. The following example illustrates
this remark: consider a liquid metal droplet—like mercury, with a high surface
tension and no evaporation—placed in a closed EWOD device (Figure 11.17).
Figure 11.17. Principle of electrowetting actuated micromirrors [20]: (A) when the
electrode is not actuated, the droplet is sitting on the bottom substrate and just
touching the upper plate (ITO cover coated with a thin layer of parylene) and (B)
after actuation the contact angle with the parylene decreases and the droplet moves
up to wet the ITO–parylene cover plate.

The system is designed so that, when the actuation is shut off, the contact of the
droplet with the upper ITO plate is minimal. In other words, the contact angle of
the mercury with the parylene-coated ITO is of the order of 150°, while the contact
angle of the mercury with the bottom substrate is of the order of 85°, and the droplet
volume is carefully adjusted to minimize the contact with the cover plate—without
suppressing it. In such a case, the incoming light is not reflected and the micromirror
is OFF.

When the actuation is turned on, the contact angle with the cover plate decreas-
es—to ~80°—because of the electrowetting effect. The droplet then contacts the top
cover reflecting the incoming light. The micromirror is ON, reflecting the incoming
light.

A model for the droplet can be done with the numerical program Evolver. Figure
11.18 shows the different shapes of the droplet depending on the contact angle.
The influence of gravity cannot be neglected here because the density of mercury is
large (13,500 kg/m3), and the closed form relations proposed by Berthier and Brakke
[22] cannot be used in this particular case.

Figure 11.18. Different droplet shapes with varying actuation contact angle. The
contact angle at the bottom is 75° in all cases, and the vertical distance between
the plates is 300 µm. The contact angle with the cover plate (dematerialized in the
figure) is (A) 152°, (B) 145°, (C) 140°, (D) 120°, (E) 100°, and (F) 80°.

The contact area of the droplet with the cover plate varies nonlinearly with the contact
angle: it increases rapidly at the beginning with the decreasing contact angle; then
the increase rate progressively slows down. This is in agreement with the experiment.
Figure 11.19 sketches the reflective area versus the applied voltage, according to Ref.
[21]. Images from the numerical program Surface Evolver have been superposed to
show the liquid contact with the cover plate. According to the observations of Wan
and colleagues [21], less than 1/3 ms is required to switch from a closed to open
mirror configuration. Note that the capillary time (Tomotika time) for liquid mercury
for a 100 µm radius droplet is

Figure 11.19. Reflective area as a function of the applied voltage: the mirror is off at
low voltages, while it is on at higher voltages (80 V). The sketches on the figures have
been obtained with the Evolver.

(11.8)

Hence, the switch time is limited by the electrowetting actuation system (0.2 ms), not
by the capillary adjustment. In order to have a more usable system, gallium indium
tin droplets are presently being substituted to mercury.

> Read full chapter

Nanoplasmonics
M. Fukui, ... M. Haraguchi, in Handai Nanophotonics, 2006

2.2.3 Mechanism of the optical switching explored from the

spatial distribution of a light intensity
In order to explore the mechanism of the optical switching, we have evaluated the
spatial distribution of the light intensity before and after the switching. Setting
the incident light intensity before the switching, as shown by mark (1) in Fig. 15,
we obtain a usual profile of the distribution, as indicated in Fig. 16(a). For the
incident light intensity just before the switching, as shown by mark (2) in Fig. 15,
the localization of light becomes stronger because of a self-focussing effect due to
 the third-order nonlinearity of the CdS film, as shown in Fig. 16(b). For just after the
switching, see mark (3) in Fig. 15, light confinement around a central line becomes
extremely intense, as shown in Fig. 16(c). As is well known, the LSP with n=1 is a
Frölich mode in a linear optical region, so that the spatial distribution of the light
intensity should be independent of the radius.

Fig. 15. Nonlinear optical switching of a single Ag sphere coated with the CdS film,
a = 20 nm, h = 20 nm, ħ = 2.206 eV.

Fig. 16. Spatial distributions of |E|2/|E0|2

The nonlinear effect of CdS, however, leads to a large deformation of the spatial
distribution, as indicated in Fig. 16(c). After the switching (mark(4)), the area of
strong light intensity is of a fan-type, as shown in Fig. 16(d). Such an area is further
expanded and thus light confinement becomes weaker with increasing incident
light intensity, so that light intensity along the central line is decreased. This is
the mechanism of the occurrence of the switching understood from the spatial
distribution of the light intensity.

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