Method for pre-calculating and applying optimized phase patterns to lcos switch panel of wss module

A method for processing an input beam, the method comprising:

• transmitting the input beam from at least one port of a plurality of ports, the ports being separated by port spacing;
• dispersing the input beam into optical channels with a dispersion element;
• storing a plurality of holograms, each of the holograms associated with a defined parameter, each of the holograms configured to create a reconfigurable phase grating profile of individually addressable pixels of a switch assembly;
• selecting at least one of the holograms based on the defined parameter;
• and
• selectively directing a portion of one or more diffracted beams of one or more of the optical channels relative to one or more of the ports by individually addressing the pixels of the switch assembly according to the at least one selected hologram.

A method of configuring a module to process an input beam, the method comprising:

• modeling a plurality of ports and a switch assembly of the module, the switch assembly arranged in optical communication with optical channels, the switch assembly being liquid crystal based and having a plurality of pixels, the pixels being individually addressable;
• determining a plurality of holograms for operating the switch assembly, each of the holograms associated with a defined parameter and each configured to create a reconfigurable phase grating profile of the pixels, by iteratively simulating diffractions of the optical channels from the switch assembly with the reconfigurable phase grating profile, comparing each of the simulated diffractions against a target performance at the defined parameter, and adjusting the reconfigurable phase grating profile of the pixels based on the comparison;
• and
• storing the plurality of determined holograms with the defined parameters associated therewith as data accessible by the module.