Optical wavelength-space cross-connect switch architecture

An optical cross-connect switch capable of distributing a plurality of multi-wavelength optical signals, each multi-wavelength optical signal including a plurality of component signals, wherein each component signal is carried in an optical channel associated with one of a plurality of optical wavelengths, the optical switch comprising:

• a plurality of optical channel distributors, wherein each of the plurality of distributors receives one of the plurality of multi-wavelength signals and distributes the plurality of component signals in the received multi-wavelength signal among a plurality of optical distributor outputs, such that, for two or more of the plurality of distributors, a component signal carried in an optical channel associated with a selected one of the plurality of optical wavelengths is distributed to a selected one of the plurality of distributor outputs;
• a plurality of optical wavelength-selective cross-connect (WSXC) fabrics for routing component signals, wherein each WSXC fabric is interconnected to an output of one or more of the plurality of optical channel distributors, and the selected outputs for the two or more distributors are interconnected to a selected one of the plurality of WSXC fabrics;
• and
• a plurality of optical channel combiners, wherein each combiner includes a plurality of inputs for receiving component signals routed to the combiner by the WSXC fabrics and each combiner outputs a multi-wavelength optical signal comprising a superposition of component signals routed to the combiner.

A method for assembling an optical cross-connect switch, wherein the switch includes a plurality of input ports M for receiving multi-wavelength optical signals as inputs and a plurality of output ports R for supplying multi-wavelength optical signals as outputs, each multi-wavelength optical signal including a plurality of component signals each carried in one of N optical channels, each channel being associated with one of N optical wavelengths, the method comprising the steps of:

• selecting an integer P to be less than N and greater than or equal to the ratio of N to a number Q, wherein Q represents a maximum number of component signals that may be selected by an optical wavelength-selective cross-connect (WSXC) fabric;
• interconnecting P MxR WSXC fabrics to M 1xP wavelength-selective optical signal distributors, such that one output from each distributor is interconnected to one input for each WSXC fabric;
• and
• interconnecting R Px1 optical signal combiners to the P WSXC fabrics, such that one output from each WSXC fabric is interconnected to one input for each combiner.