Optical switching method and optical switching apparatus

An optical switching apparatus, comprising:

• a light passing element made of a substance containing conjugated system electrons;
• electric field application means for applying an electric field to said light passing element;
• and
• a plurality of control object elements for being controlled by light irradiated thereupon;
• said electric field application means controlling the intensity and/or the direction of the electric field applied to said light passing element to vary the condition of electrons of the substance of said light passing element to vary the refractive index of said light passing element to deflect the outgoing direction of the light introduced into said light passing element so that the outgoing light of said light passing element is irradiated upon a selected one of said control object elements to control the control object element.

An optical switching apparatus, comprising:

• a light passing element made of a substance containing conjugated system electrons;
• electric field application means for applying an electric field to said light passing element;
• a plurality of control object elements for being controlled by light irradiated thereupon;
• and
• an optical modulation apparatus for modulating the intensity of the light to be introduced into the controlled object element;
• said electric field application means controlling at least one of the intensity and the direction of the electric field applied to said light passing element to vary the condition of electrons of the substance of said light passing element to vary the refractive index of said light passing element to deflect the outgoing direction of the light introduced into said light passing element so that the outgoing light of said light passing element is irradiated upon a selected one of said control object elements to control the control object element.