Optical Switches: Materials and Design

Optical communication using optical fibers as the transmission medium is essential to handling the massive growth of both telecom and datacom traffic. This book addresses the different technologies which can be applied to switching optical signals. The book covers electro-optical, thermo-optical, micro-electro-mechanical (MEMS)-based and semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)-based optical switches. The book also covers switching based on optical nonlinear effects, liquid and photonic crystal optical switches as well as fiber, holographic, quantum optical and other types of optical switches.