To provide a piezoelectric type optical relay having a liquid metal and provided with a latch function.
The piezoelectric relay is characterized in that the relay is provided, in a switching channel 40 provided to a relay casing 100, with a first, a second, and a third contact pads 50, 54, and 58 having wet surfaces on the liquid metal, a first, a second, and a third liquid metal droplets 42, 44, and 46 which are brought into wet-contact with the first, the second, and the third contact pads, respectively, a first optical path which passes between the first and the third liquid metal droplets, first piezoelectric pumps 126 and 128 which supply a driving fluid between the first and the third liquid metal droplets, separate the first and the third liquid metal droplets, and combine the second and the third liquid metal droplets, and second piezoelectric pumps 130 and 132 which supply the driving fluid between the second and the third liquid metal droplets, separate the second and third liquid metal droplets, and combine the first and the third liquid metal droplets. The first optical path is opened and closed according to separation and the combination of the first and the third liquid droplets.
Yoshio Matsuda