With the development of optical communication, the optical attenuator becomes an important passive device. It is widely used in power equalization of DWDM system and photo detectors. Here an optofluidic variable optical attenuator (VOA) based on magnetohydrodynamic drive is presented. This chip uses microfluid and compressible air to adjust optical attenuation, where the fluid-drive technology uses magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) drive. The driving pump consists of two electrodes and a permanent magnet (NdFeB) that under the microfluidic channel. Only several volts voltage is needed in operation. There are no movable mechanical parts in this variable optical attenuator, so its volume is small. This variable optical attenuator has a simple structure and a low voltage advantages, and it is easy to control and integrate. The proposed VOA gives a new method for looking for small, low voltage and adjustable VOAs.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.