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US 7,254,293 B1Granted
Wavelength routing optical switch
AssigneeCalient Networks, Inc.
InventorsRoger Jonathan Helkey, Shifu Yuan, Xuezhe Zheng
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An optical switch for routing arbitrary wavelengths between optical fibers in optical networks. The optical switch may include a highly wavelength dispersive element together with a spatially dispersive element to separate the wavelengths. Broadband switch inputs and outputs may be provided for adding and dropping arbitrary wavelengths at each node of the network. Fiber demultiplexers and multiplexers may also be used to reduce the impact of mirror array yield on switch functionality.
Claims15
An optical wavelength switch, comprising:
- an input port to receive a first beam having a plurality of wavelengths including a first wavelength;
- an add port to receive a second beam having the first wavelength;
- a cross-connect switch to receive the first beam from the input port and to receive the second beam from the add port;
- a wavelength dispersive element coupled to the cross-connect switch to receive the first beam from the cross-connect switch, the wavelength dispersive element to separate the plurality of wavelengths of the first beam into a plurality of free-space beams each having a separate wavelength, the free-space beams including a first free-space beam corresponding to the first wavelength and a second free-space beam corresponding to a second wavelength;
- a mirror array coupled to the wavelength dispersive element to receive the plurality of wavelengths of the first beam, the mirror array comprising a plurality of mirrors, each mirror rotatable in two axes;
- an output port to receive the second beam and the second free-space beam from the cross-connect switch;
- and
- a drop port to receive the first free-space beam from the cross-connect switch, wherein the input port, the add port, the output port and the drop port being arranged in a two-dimensional manner.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.