An optical communications system includes spaced apart first and second optical elements. The bypass blade is electrically connected between the first and third terminal pads when in the closed position. A subsequent binary bit of information, among a plurality of binary bits of information to be transmitted, may be assigned to a subsequent one of the plurality of spatial streams based on the current modulation type andor a subsequent modulation type. The insulator has an outside diameter d and an inside diameter c, d\u2212c, that is, the difference between outside diameter d and inside diameter c, in the front section of the insulator being not greater than 1. This method reduces the time and cost necessary for bead array production and retains the bead alignment in the capillary, resulting in improved accuracy and reliability in experiments using the capillary array.