Reconfigurable free space wavelength cross connect
First Claim
1. A wavelength cross connect, comprising:
- at least three optical waveguides having waveguide ends arranged in a first linear array extending in a first direction perpendicular to a principal optical plane;
a wavelength dispersive element uniform in said first direction and coupled to beams associated with each of said waveguide ends and spectrally separating wavelength components of said beams with wavelength-separated sub-beams disposed in a two-dimensional array arranged in a first waveguide direction and a first wavelength direction;
a first set of free-space optics arranged along an optical axis extending in said principal optical plane and coupling said waveguides and said wavelength dispersive element;
a plurality of micro electromechanical system (MEMS) mirrors arranged in a first mirror array arranged in at least a second wavelength direction and coupling at least one of said waveguides to a selected one of others of said waveguides.
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Abstract
An optical cross connect, especially a wavelength cross connect, using free-space optics, a diffraction grating, and a micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) array of movable mirrors. A concentrator receives light from widely separated optical fibers and brings the beams together into a more closely spaced linear array. Free-space optics process all the beams. Front-end optics collimate the beams from the fibers and flatten their fields. The diffraction grating spectrally separates each beam into sub-beams. A long-focus lens focuses the sub-beams onto the 2-dimensional MEMS array. A fold mirror reflectively couples two such mirrors, whereby the switched signals propagate back through the same optics and are spectrally recombined onto the fibers. Other embodiments include white-color cross connects, multiple MEMS arrays, and parallel optics. Power dividers or wavelength interleavers can divide signals from the fibers, and multiple cross connects switch different wavelength groups.
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Citations
42 Claims
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1. A wavelength cross connect, comprising:
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at least three optical waveguides having waveguide ends arranged in a first linear array extending in a first direction perpendicular to a principal optical plane;
a wavelength dispersive element uniform in said first direction and coupled to beams associated with each of said waveguide ends and spectrally separating wavelength components of said beams with wavelength-separated sub-beams disposed in a two-dimensional array arranged in a first waveguide direction and a first wavelength direction;
a first set of free-space optics arranged along an optical axis extending in said principal optical plane and coupling said waveguides and said wavelength dispersive element;
a plurality of micro electromechanical system (MEMS) mirrors arranged in a first mirror array arranged in at least a second wavelength direction and coupling at least one of said waveguides to a selected one of others of said waveguides. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A wavelength cross connect, comprising:
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at least three optical waveguides having waveguide ends arranged in a first linear array;
a wavelength dispersive element coupled to beams associated with each of said waveguide ends and spectrally separating wavelength components of said beams with wavelength-separated sub-beams disposed in a two-dimensional array arranged in a first waveguide direction and a first wavelength direction;
a first set of free-space optics coupling said waveguides and said wavelength dispersive element;
a fold mirror;
a plurality of micro electromechanical system (MEMS) mirrors arranged in a two-dimensional array arranged in a second waveguide direction and a second wavelength direction, pairs of said mirrors disposed at one location along said second wavelength direction being movable to couple light through said fold mirrors between respective ones of said pairs; and
a second set of free-space optics coupling said wavelength dispersive element to said MEMS mirrors and said fold mirror;
wherein one of said waveguides is selectively coupled to either of two others of said waveguides. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A optical cross connect, comprising:
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a concentrator having associated therewith at least three waveguides having ends arranged in a first linear array separated by a first spacing and being separated from each other by a second spacing larger than said first spacing away from said ends;
a free-space optical system coupled to all of said ends; and
a microelectromechanical system including an array of movable mirrors coupled to all of said ends through said free-space optical system. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29)
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27. An optical cross connect, comprising:
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an array of optical waveguides having ends and coupled to free-space beams propagating substantially parallel to a principal optical plane;
free-space optics disposed in an optical path parallel to said principal optically interacting with said free-space beams;
a micro electromechanical system (MEMS) array of movable mirrors disposed in a plane inclined to principal optical plane; and
a fold mirror reflectively coupling respective pairs of said mirrors.
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30. An optical cross connect, comprising:
a plurality of optical waveguides arranged in an array and extending along parallel paths to waveguide ends thereof;
a collimating lens system optically coupled to said waveguide ends and including a field-flattening element; and
an array of micro electromechnical system (MEMS) mirrors optically coupled through said collimating lens system to said waveguide ends. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39)
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36. An optical cross connect coupled to a plurality of optical waveguides carrying a plurality of wavelength multiplexed optical signals, comprising:
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at least one stage of a plurality of optical divider/combiners each coupled on one side to a one of said optical waveguides and including on another side a plurality of ports; and
a plurality of wavelength cross connects each coupled to a respective one of said ports of each of said optical divider/combiners and configured to optically switch corresponding and different groups of wavelength components of said plurality of wavelength multiplexed optical signals.
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40. A method of wavelength switching multi-wavelength signals conveyed on a plurality of fibers, comprising the steps of:
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coupling light between said fibers and multi-wavelength free-space beams propagating in parallel in a linear array arranged parallel to a principal optical plane with spacings of no more than 50 μ
m;
spectrally coupling said multi-wavelength free-space beams and wavelength-separated free-space sub-beams;
positioning a two-dimensional array of tiltable mirrors to intercept respective ones of said sub-beams; and
selectively tilting said mirrors to selectively optically couple pairs of said fibers. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42)
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Specification