Client-configurable eight-channel optical add/drop multiplexer using micromachining technology

A client-configurable optical add/drop multiplexer (OADM) is demonstrated using a micromachined 8/spl times/6 matrix switch. The matrix switch can be configured to add/drop any of the eight input channels from/to any of the six add/drop ports. For the switching fabric, the insertion loss is 2/spl sim/3 dB for the dropped channels and 8/spl sim/9 dB for the added channels by using the backsides of the micromirror switches. The switching extinction ratio is over 40 dB, the crosstalk between channels is less than -40 dB, and they are equipment-limited in this experiment.