Compact and scalable three-dimensional microelectromechanical system optical switches [Invited]

Feature Issue on Nanoscale Integrated Photonics for Optical Networks We review the performance and applications of compact (20cm3) and large-scale (320×320) three-dimensional microelectromechanical system (3-D MEMS) based optical switches. The low loss (<3dB for all 102,400 paths) and variable attenuation capable optical switch performs penalty-free for cascaded operation at 40Gbits/s. Scalability and performance of integrated wavelength-selective cross-connects based on 3-D MEMS with an unprecedented 12.8Tbit/s switching capacity for next-generation all-optical networks are also presented.