Packaged optical wavelength selector and optical gate for the same

A packaged optical signal wavelength selector comprising:

• a substrate for carrying optical signal devices, said optical signal devices defining a signal path on said substrate, wherein said signal path can be coupled to a source of optical signals;
• an optical signal multiplexer/demultiplexer in said signal path whereby signal components can be separated from a single path multiplexed signal into a plurality of paths each having a single demultiplexed signal component;
• a plurality of gates, one for each of said demultiplexed signal components, each of said gates comprising;
• a waveguide comprised of a cladding surrounding a core;
• a thin film semiconductor being sized, shaped and positioned outside of said core such that an optical signal passing along said core interacts with said thin film semiconductor;
• and
• a source of power to stimulate said thin film semiconductor, said power source being switchable between being on and off;
• wherein each of said optical signal components is individually attenuated or amplified by interacting with said semiconductor film depending upon whether the source of power is on or off for each gate.

A method of forming an optical signal gate comprising the steps of:

• a) forming a substrate;
• b) forming a cladding on said substrate;
• c) forming at least a core for a planar optical signal multiplexer/de-multiplexer on said cladding, said planar multiplexer/demultiplexer including a single multiplexed signal core at one end and a plurality of demultiplexed signal cores in a gate region at the other end;
• d) depositing a gate material adjacent to each of the plurality of cores in said gate region;
• and
• e) depositing a cladding around all of said cores and said gate material to form waveguides.