Optical switch having switch mirror arrays controlled by scanning beams

An optical switch, comprising:

• an optical source to provide an optical beam;
• a diffraction beam splitter to receive the optical beam from the optical source and to split the optical beam into multiple beams;
• and
• a spatial light modulator to direct the multiple beams to a switch mirror array, the switch mirror array having one or more control elements, each of the one or more control elements coupled to receive one of the multiple beams, each control element to control movement of an individual mirror based on the correspondingly received one of the multiple beams.

An optical switch, comprising:

• one or more arrays of optical switch inputs and outputs;
• one or more arrays of movable mirrors to direct one or more signal beams from the optical switch inputs to the optical switch outputs;
• and
• one or more control elements to control the movable mirrors based on one or more control beams directed to the control elements, wherein the control beams and the signal beams follow substantially parallel paths over substantially similar distances between the optical switch inputs and the movable mirrors.

An optical switch, comprising:

• one or more arrays of optical switch inputs and outputs;
• one or more arrays of movable mirrors to direct one or more signal beams from the optical switch inputs to the optical switch outputs;
• and
• one or more control elements to control the movable mirrors based on one or more control beams directed to the control elements, wherein the paths of the control beams are separate from the paths of the signal beams between the optical switch inputs and the movable mirrors, wherein the control beams are directed to places other than the movable mirror and, wherein the movable mirrors do not reflect the control beams.

An optical switch, comprising:

• one or more arrays of optical switch inputs and outputs;
• one or more arrays of movable mirrors to direct one or more signal beams from the optical switch inputs to the optical switch outputs;
• and
• one or more control elements to control the movable mirrors based on one or more control beams directed to the control elements, wherein the paths of the control beams are separate from the paths of the signal beams between the optical switch inputs and the movable mirrors, wherein the movable mirrors are outside the paths of the control beams.

An optical switch, comprising:

• one or more arrays of optical switch inputs and outputs;
• one or more arrays of movable mirrors to direct one or more signal beams from the optical switch inputs to the optical switch outputs;
• and
• one or more control elements to control the movable mirrors based on one or more control beams directed to the control elements, wherein the paths of the control beams are separate from the paths of the signal beams between the optical switch inputs and the movable mirrors, wherein each of one or more control elements provides a drive voltage to each of one or more electrodes upon receipt of a control beam by the control element.

An optical switch, comprising:

• one or more arrays of optical switch inputs and outputs;
• one or more arrays of movable mirrors to direct one or more signal beams from the optical switch inputs to the optical switch outputs;
• and
• one or more control elements to control the movable mirrors based on one or more control beams directed to the control elements, wherein the control beams and the signal beams follow substantially parallel paths between the optical switch inputs and the movable mirrors, wherein a receiving surface of each control element is coplanar with a receiving surface of one or more movable mirrors when the movable mirrors are in the equilibrium position.

An optical switch, comprising:

• one or more arrays of optical switch inputs and outputs;
• one or more arrays of movable mirrors to direct one or more signal beams from the optical switch inputs to the optical switch outputs;
• and
• one or more control elements to control the movable mirrors based on one or more control beams directed to the control elements, wherein the control beams and the signal beams follow substantially parallel paths between the optical switch inputs and the movable mirrors, wherein each of one or more control elements provides a drive voltage to each of one or more electrodes upon receipt of a control beam by the control element.

An optical switch, comprising:

• one or more arrays of optical switch inputs and outputs;
• one or more arrays of movable mirrors to direct one or more signal beams from the optical switch inputs to the optical switch outputs;
• and
• one or more control elements to control the movable mirrors based on one or more control beams directed to the control elements, wherein each of the control elements is integrated with one or more of the movable mirrors , wherein each of one or more control elements provides a drive voltage to one or more electrodes upon receipt of a control beam by the control element.

An optical switch, comprising:

• one or more arrays of optical switch inputs and outputs;
• one or more arrays of movable mirrors to direct one or more signal beams from the optical switch inputs to the optical switch outputs;
• and
• one or more control elements to control the movable mirrors based on one or more control beams directed to the control elements, wherein each of the one or more control elements provides a drive voltage to one or more electrodes upon receipt of a control beam by the control element.

An optical switch, comprising:

• one or more arrays of optical switch inputs and outputs;
• one or more arrays of movable mirrors to direct one or more signal beams from the optical switch inputs to the optical switch outputs;
• and
• one or more control elements to control the movable mirrors based on one or more control beams directed to the control elements, wherein each of the one or more control elements provides a drive voltage to one or more electrodes upon receipt of one of the control beams by the control element, wherein each electrode moves one or more movable mirrors in a certain direction upon receipt of the drive voltage by the electrode.

An optical switch, comprising:

• one or more arrays of optical switch inputs and outputs;
• one or more arrays of movable mirrors to direct one or more signal beams from the optical switch inputs to the optical switch outputs;
• and
• one or more control devices, wherein each control device moves one or more movable mirrors in a particular direction based on the intensity of one or more scanning control beams directed to the control device.