Optical performance of variable attenuation in large-scale 3-D MEMS-based photonic cross-connects

The optical performance of variable attenuation by detuning the mirrors in a large-scale three-dimensional microelectromechanical-system-based photonic cross-connect for dense wavelength-division-multiplexed channel equalization is investigated. At attenuation levels up to 20 dB, better than 0.2-dB optical stability and 50-dB channel isolation are observed for both low- and high-angle connections. Penalty-free transmission is achieved for a cascade of attenuated paths when both the input and output mirrors are simultaneously detuned.