Optical switch for a very large number of channels

A bidirectional optical switching system for selectively interconnecting a first group of optical fibers and a second group of optical fibers, the ends of the fibers in each group being coplanar and arranged in an array, the two arrays facing one another and having a space therebetween, said bidirectional optical switching system comprising:

• a plurality of propagation mode converters, with one converter being associated with each fiber of each array, for receiving the optical signal from the associated fiber and producing an output optical signal;
• a plurality of deflectors with one deflector being associated with each propagation mode converter, for receiving the output signal from the associated propagation mode converter;
• at least one control interface being associated with at least one deflector, for controlling the associated deflector;
• at least one logic circuit, with each logic circuit being associated with at least one control interface, for driving the associated control interface;
• a plurality of address detectors, with one address detector being associated with each propagation mode converter and each of said detectors located between each associated mode converter and each said mode converters associated with one of said deflectors, said address detectors extracting address data from said output optical signal and controlling said logic circuit in response thereto, so that said control interface causes said deflector to switch the output optical signal to a desired optical fiber of the opposite array.