Optical gate based optical space division switch

Abstract

An optical gate based optical space division switch for switching optical signals inputted through arbitrary input ports to a desired output port with no internal collision. The optical space division switch comprises a first splitting section for splitting the optical signals inputted through the input ports, a first amplification section for selectively amplifying output optical signals from the first splitting section, a second splitting section for splitting output optical signals from the first amplification section, a second amplification section for selectively amplifying output optical signals from the second splitting section, a coupling section for coupling output optical signals from the second amplification section, and a third amplification section for amplifying an output optical signal from the coupling section and transferring the amplified optical signal to the output port. According to the present invention, optical gates are connected in a two-stage manner to cross-couple optical signals. Therefore, the optical signals are transferred only to a desired output port, thereby reducing the number of their crosstalk components and so significantly improving a signal-to-noise ratio.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.