SBIR Phase I: High Speed 2x2 Polymer Optical Fiber Switch

第一阶段小企业创新研究项目的目标是使用电光聚合物光纤和现成的光纤组件制造高速2x2光开关。在实现这一目标的过程中，将实现的技术目标包括：1)制造带有连接器的单模电光聚合物光纤，2)演示这种聚合物光纤与标准玻璃光纤之间的耦合，3)用研究人员的聚合物光纤和现成的组件制造2x2光开关，以及4)确定开关的性能以评估其是否符合规格。由于首席研究员具有制作单模聚合物光纤波导的专业知识，其模式轮廓与玻璃纤维中的模式相匹配，因此有源电光纤维和标准光纤组件将使满足规格成为可能。本课题研究的直接商用设备应用是高速EO开关调制器。这些包括用于单模局域网的旁路和接入交换机，用于有线电视前端的备份和恢复交换机，用于用户端广域网的网络恢复交换机，用于长途电信POP（存在点）中心的光交叉连接，以及用于相控阵天线。其他应用预计将用于利基市场，包括仪器仪表、网络测试、组件测试和评估，以及潜在的计算机互连网络配置。

The goal of Phase I Small Business Innovation Research project is to make a high-speed 2x2 optical switch using an electro-optic polymer fiber and off-the-shelf fiber components. The technical objectives that will be met on route to this goal include: 1) making single-mode electro-optic polymer optical fiber with connectors, 2) demonstrating coupling between this polymer fiber and standard glass fiber, 3) making a 2x2 optical switch with the researcher's polymer optical fiber and off-the shelf components, and 4) determining the properties of the switch to assess whether or not it meets specifications. Because the Prinicipal Investigator has the expertise to make single mode polymer optical fiber waveguides with a mode profile that matches the mode in glass fiber, the active electro-optic fiber and standard fiber components will make meeting specs possible. The immediate commercial device application of the project's research is a high speed EO switch and modulator. These include bypass and access switches for single-mode LANs, backup and restoration switches for CATV head-ends, network restoration switches for subscriber-side WANs, optical crossconnects for long-haul telecommunication POP (points of presence) centers, and for phased-array antennas. Additional applications are foreseen for niche markets, including instrumentation, network test, component test and evaluation, and potentially computer interconnect network configuration.