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US 2002/0176657 A1Published application
Beam convergence system for optical switching cores
OwnerElliot Burke, Jeff Scottinventors
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Abstract
An optical switching core includes a first plurality of beam directing devices, wherein each of said first plurality of beam directing devices redirects an incoming optical beam to at least one of a plurality of output ports within a scan area and a convergence lens, optically coupled to at least a portion of the first plurality of beam directing devices, for shifting the scan area of at least the portion of the first plurality of beam directing devices toward an optical axis of the switch core to increase the overlap of the scan areas and increase the number of output ports that may be addressed.
Claims41
An optical switching core, comprising
- a first plurality of beam directing devices, wherein each of said first plurality of beam directing devices redirects an incoming optical beam to at least one of a plurality of output ports within a scan area;
- and
- a convergence lens, optically coupled to at least a portion of said first plurality of beam directing devices, for shifting the scan area of at least said portion of said first plurality of beam directing devices toward an optical axis of said switch core.
A method for switching an optical signal, comprising
- redirecting each of a plurality of incoming optical beams toward a unique scan area;
- and
- converging said plurality of redirected incoming optical beams to shift said scan areas towards an optical axis.
An optical switching core, comprising:
- two or more beam directing arrays, wherein each of said beam directing arrays comprises a plurality of beam directing devices coupled to a substrate for directing a plurality of incoming optical beams to at least one of a plurality of ports within a scan area, wherein the substrate of each of said beam directing units is tilted relative to an optical axis;
- and
- two or more convergence lenses, wherein each of said two or more convergence lens is optically coupled to a distinct one of said beam directing arrays, for shifting the scan area of at least a portion of said plurality of beam directing devices toward an optical axis of said switch core.
An optical switching core, comprising:
- a plurality of optical collimators coupled to a first surface of a substrate;
- a plurality of beam directing devices coupled to a second surface of said substrate wherein each of said plurality of optical collimators are optically coupled to a unique beam directing device that redirects incoming optical beams to at least one of a plurality of output ports within a scan area;
- and
- a convergence lens, optically coupled to said plurality of beam directing devices, for shifting the scan area of at least a portion of said plurality of beam directing devices toward an optical axis of said switch core.
1 more element
An optical switching core, comprising:
- two or more beam directing arrays, wherein each of said beam directing arrays comprises a plurality of beam directing devices for redirecting a plurality of incoming optical beams to at least one of a plurality of output ports;
- and
- two or more beam combiners, wherein each of said two or more beam directing arrays is optically coupled to a unique one of said two or more beam combiners and wherein a normal of each of said two or more beam combiners shifts said plurality of redirected incoming optical beams received from said two or more beam directing arrays towards an optical axis.
An optical switching core, comprising:
- a first beam directing array comprising a first plurality of beam directing devices for redirecting a first plurality of incoming optical beams to any one of a plurality of output ports;
- a first beam combiner optically coupled to said first plurality of beam directing devices, wherein a normal of said first beam combiner is tilted to shift said first plurality of redirected incoming optical beams received from said first plurality of beam directing devices towards an optical axis;
- a second beam directing array comprising a second plurality of beam directing devices for redirecting a second plurality of incoming optical beams to at least one of a plurality of output ports;
- and
- a second beam combiner optically coupled to said second plurality of beam directing devices, wherein a normal of said second beam combiner is tilted to shift said second plurality of redirected incoming optical beams received from said second plurality of beam directing devices towards said optical axis.
2 more elements
An optical switching core, comprising:
- two or more input beam directing arrays, wherein each of said beam directing arrays comprises a plurality of beam directing devices for redirecting a plurality of incoming optical beams to at least one of a plurality of output ports;
- two or more input beam combiners, wherein each of said beam directing arrays is optically coupled to a unique one of said two or more input beam combiners and wherein a normal of each of said input beam combiners is tilted to shift said plurality of redirected incoming optical beams received from said two or more input beam directing arrays towards an optical axis;
- and
- two or more output beam combiners optically coupled to said two or more input beam combiners and wherein a normal of each of said two or more output beam combiners is tilted to shift optical beams received from said input away from said optical axis.
1 more element
A method for switching an optical signal, comprising
- redirecting a plurality of incoming optical beams toward at least one of a plurality of output ports;
- and
- shifting said plurality of redirected beams towards an optical axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.