mechanical optical switch work by physically moving optical fibers through a mechanical device to redirect optical signals. By moving a prism or directional coupler, the input light is directed to the desired output port. There are three main types of mechanical optical switches: one is using prism switching optical path technology, the other is using mirror switching technology, and the third is switching optical path by moving optical fiber.

mechanical optical switch has one or more selectable transmission Windows, which can be divided into 2×2, 1×N, M×N port configurations. mechanical optical switch has a wide range of applications in optical fiber communication system, its implementation technology is various, including: mechanical optical switch, thermooptic switch, acoustooptic switch, electro-optical switch, magneto-optical switch, liquid crystal optical switch and MEMS optical switch, etc. mechanical optical switch and MEMS optical switch are two kinds of optical switches widely used at present.