Abstract:In the article,several most typicalopticalswitchessuchasopticalwave guideswitch,bubbleswitch,thermo capil l aryopticalswitchandthermallyactuatedMEMSopticalswitch,etc.andthemicrothemalproblemsinvolvedwerecompre h ensivelyreviewed.Basedonanindepthdiscussiononthekeymechanisms,severalpossiblestrategiesforsolvingtheabovei ssueswereproposed.Thisisexpectedtoprovideavaluablereferenceforfurtherdesigningnewopticalswitchesandimprov i ngthecurrentlyexistingopticalswitches.