Reconfigurable optical add-drop module, system and method
First Claim
1. An apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of optical ports including at least one input optical port for receiving at least one wavelength channel and at least one output optical port;
for each optical port, a respective dispersive element optically connected to the optical port;
a bulk optical element having optical power;
a plurality of non-transmissive routing elements;
wherein for each wavelength channel;
the dispersive element of the input port and the bulk optical element disperses any light of the wavelength channel towards a respective one of said plurality of routing elements, and the respective one of said plurality of routing elements directs the light of the wavelength channel via the bulk optical element to a selected output port of said at least one output port via the respective dispersive element of the selected output port, the selected output port being determined by the respective routing element.
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Abstract
An apparatus, system, and method for all-optical wavelength add-drop switching are provided. A number of optical ports, including at least one input port and at least one output port, are each optically coupled to a respective dispersive element. When a multichannel optical signal is input through an input port, an optical beam of each channel emerges from the dispersive element at an angle depending upon its wavelength. The beams emerging from the dispersive element pass through a bulk optical element which redirects each beam toward a respective one of a number of routing or switching elements, each of which has been set to redirect the respective beam through the bulk optical element towards a selected dispersive element coupled to a selected output port.
88 Citations
74 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising:
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a plurality of optical ports including at least one input optical port for receiving at least one wavelength channel and at least one output optical port;
for each optical port, a respective dispersive element optically connected to the optical port;
a bulk optical element having optical power;
a plurality of non-transmissive routing elements;
wherein for each wavelength channel;
the dispersive element of the input port and the bulk optical element disperses any light of the wavelength channel towards a respective one of said plurality of routing elements, and the respective one of said plurality of routing elements directs the light of the wavelength channel via the bulk optical element to a selected output port of said at least one output port via the respective dispersive element of the selected output port, the selected output port being determined by the respective routing element. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. An apparatus comprising:
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a plurality of optical ports including an input optical port for receiving at least one wavelength channel and at least two output optical ports;
for each optical port, a respective dispersive element optically connected to the optical port;
a plurality of transmissive routing elements;
a first bulk optical element having optical power; and
a second bulk optical element having optical power;
wherein for each wavelength channel;
the dispersive element of the input port and the first bulk optical element direct any light of the wavelength channel towards a respective one of said plurality of transmissive routing elements, and an appropriate setting of the respective one of said plurality of transmissive routing elements directs the light of said wavelength channel via the second bulk optical element to a respective selected port of said at least two output ports via the respective dispersive element of the selected output port, the selected output port being determined by the respective routing element. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. An apparatus comprising:
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a stacked plurality of rows of optical ports, the ports comprising an input optical port for receiving at least one wavelength channel and at least two output optical ports;
for each optical port, a respective dispersive element optically connected to the optical port;
a bulk optical element having optical power;
a plurality of routing elements;
wherein for each wavelength channel;
the dispersive element of the input port and the bulk optical element disperse any light of the wavelength channel towards a respective one of the plurality of routing elements, and the respective one of the plurality of routing elements directs the light of said wavelength channel via the bulk optical element to a respective selected output port via the respective dispersive element of the selected output port, the selected output port being determined by the respective routing element. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68)
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69. A wavelength selective optical switch comprising:
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a stacked plurality of rows of optical ports, the ports comprising an input optical port for receiving at least one wavelength channel and at least two output optical ports;
for each row of optical ports, a respective S dispersive element optically connected to the row of optical ports;
a bulk optical element having optical power;
a plurality of routing elements;
wherein for each wavelength channel;
the dispersive element of the input port and the bulk optical element disperses any light of the wavelength channel towards a respective one of the plurality of routing elements, and the respective one of the plurality of routing elements directs the light of said wavelength channel via the bulk optical element to a respective selected output port via the respective dispersive element of the row of optical ports to which the selected output port belongs, the selected output port being determined by the respective routing element.
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70. A wavelength selective optical switch comprising:
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an input optical port for receiving at least one wavelength channel and a stacked plurality of rows of output optical ports;
for each optical port, a respective dispersive element optically connected to the optical port;
a plurality of transmissive routing elements;
a first bulk optical element having optical power between the dispersive element of the input port and the plurality of transmissive routing elements; and
a second bulk optical element having optical power between the dispersive elements of the output ports and the plurality of routing elements;
wherein for each wavelength channel;
the dispersive element of the input port and the first bulk optical element direct any light of the wavelength channel towards a respective one of said plurality of transmissive routing elements, and an appropriate setting of the respective one of said plurality of transmissive routing elements directs the light of said wavelength channel through the second bulk optical element to a respective selected output port via the respective dispersive element.
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71. An apparatus comprising:
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at least two optical ports;
a waveguide substrate containing at least two waveguide dispersive elements optically connected to the optical ports, each waveguide dispersive element comprising a respective array of waveguides, the waveguide dispersive elements having a first linear phase term for dispersion, and having at least a second parabolic phase term to focus the beam in the plane of the substrate;
a free-space propagation region;
a plurality of switching elements each adapted to establish a plurality of optical paths through the free-space propagation region from any respective first one of the waveguide dispersive elements to any respective second one of the waveguide dispersive elements. - View Dependent Claims (72)
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73. An apparatus comprising:
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at least three optical ports;
for each optical port a respective dispersive element;
a bulk optical element having optical power optically coupled to all of the ports.
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74. A method comprising:
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receiving a light signal through an input port of a plurality of rows of optical ports;
for each of a plurality of wavelength channels;
a) dispersing any light of the wavelength channel in the input signal towards a respective one of a plurality of routing elements via a respective dispersive element of the input port and via a bulk optical element having optical power;
b) the respective routing element directing the light of said wavelength channel via the bulk optical element to a respective selected output port of said plurality of rows of ports via a respective dispersive element of the selected output port, the selected output port being determined by the respective routing element.
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Specification