COMPACT WAVELENGTH-SELECTIVE OPTICAL CROSSCONNECT
First Claim
1. An optical wavelength selective switch, comprising:
- a first router block;
said first router block comprising a first plurality of optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) routers, each said router having at least one optical input and a plurality of optical outputs, each said router configured to receive an optical input signal and route individual wavelength channels in said optical signal to said optical outputs; and
a second router block;
said second router block comprising a second plurality of optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) routers, each said router having a plurality of optical inputs and at least one optical output, each said router configured to route individual wavelength channels received on said optical inputs to a said optical output;
wherein said first and second router blocks are joined to one another at an optical interface in which an array of optical waveguides in said first router block are cross-coupled to optical waveguides in said second router block; and
wherein said cross-coupled first and second router blocks are configured to optically switch selected wavelength channels from within a plurality of optical inputs to said first router block into any of a plurality of optical outputs on said second router block.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method of optically routing wavelength channels from within a plurality of optical inputs to any of a plurality of optical outputs. An optical wavelength-selective cross connect (WSXC) switch is described with a first stage of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) routers which support an optical input and a plurality of optical outputs, which are interconnected to a second stage of WDM routers having a plurality of optical inputs and an optical output. The wavelength channel is routed in two stages from one of the input stage routers to an output stage router for output. It should be appreciated that the WSXC switch of the invention can be utilized for passing optical signals in either direction. In a preferred implementation integrated circuit router chips are stacked into cubes to form the routers stages which are cross coupled using a twisted butt joint to form a WSXC switch.
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Citations
53 Claims
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1. An optical wavelength selective switch, comprising:
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a first router block;
said first router block comprising a first plurality of optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) routers, each said router having at least one optical input and a plurality of optical outputs, each said router configured to receive an optical input signal and route individual wavelength channels in said optical signal to said optical outputs; and
a second router block;
said second router block comprising a second plurality of optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) routers, each said router having a plurality of optical inputs and at least one optical output, each said router configured to route individual wavelength channels received on said optical inputs to a said optical output;
wherein said first and second router blocks are joined to one another at an optical interface in which an array of optical waveguides in said first router block are cross-coupled to optical waveguides in said second router block; and
wherein said cross-coupled first and second router blocks are configured to optically switch selected wavelength channels from within a plurality of optical inputs to said first router block into any of a plurality of optical outputs on said second router block. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An apparatus for optically switching selected wavelength channels from a plurality of optical inputs to a plurality of optical outputs, comprising:
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a first router stage having a first plurality of optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) routers, each said WDM router in said first stage configured to receive an optical input and route individual wavelength channels therein for output on one of a plurality of optical outputs;
a second router stage having a second plurality of optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) routers, each said WDM router in said second stage having a plurality of optical inputs and configured for routing individual wavelength channels therein for output on an optical output;
an optical interface on each of said first and second router stages;
a one-dimensional array of optical fiber connections on said optical interface which is configured for coupling optical fibers to said first and second router stages for inputting and outputting optical signals;
a two-dimensional array of optical waveguides on said optical interface, said array of optical waveguides configured for optically cross-coupling said first and second router stages when said first and second router stages are joined to one another; and
means for modulating routing paths within said first and second router stages to optically switch specified wavelength channels from the plurality of inputs of said first router stage for output from any of the plurality of optical outputs from said second router stage. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. An apparatus for optically switching wavelength channels from within a plurality of optical inputs into any of a plurality of optical outputs, comprising:
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a first router stage having a first plurality of optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) routers, each said WDM router within said first router stage receiving an optical input and configured to route individual wavelength channels for output on one of a plurality of optical outputs; and
a second router stage having a second plurality of WDM routers, each said WDM router within said second router stage being optically coupled to said first stage of routers and having an optical input connection to each of said WDM routers within said first router stage, wherein each of said WDM routers within said second router stage is configured for routing selected wavelength channels received from one router within said first router stage to an optical output from said second router stage;
an optical interface on each of said first and second router stages;
a one-dimensional array of optical fiber connections on said optical interface which is configured for coupling optical fibers to said first and second router stages for inputting and outputting optical signals; and
a two-dimensional array of optical waveguides on said optical interface, said array of optical waveguides configured for optically cross-coupling said first and second router stages when said first and second stages router stages are joined to one another;
wherein said first plurality of routers are joined to one another in a stack to form said first router stage, and said second plurality of routers are joined to one another in a stack to form said second router stage;
wherein rows of optical waveguides in said first router stage are joined across columns of optical waveguides in said second router stage; and
wherein columns of optical waveguides in said first router stage are joined across rows of optical waveguides in said second router stage. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. An apparatus for optically switching wavelength channels, comprising:
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a first router stage wherein a plurality of optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) routers, fabricated monolithically on substrates, are stacked together;
a second router stage wherein a plurality of optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) routers integrated on substrates are stacked together; and
a cross coupled optical connection between said first router stage and said second router stage, wherein said stack of integrated optical routers for said first and said second router stages are joined together in a butt coupling after rotating the first and second router stages to approximately ninety degrees in relation to one another;
wherein wavelength channels from a given optical router within said first router stage are optically coupled to each optical router within said second router stage; and
wherein any of a plurality of wavelength channels from a group of optical fiber inputs are cross connectable to a group of optical fiber outputs. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A method of optically switching wavelength channels from within a plurality of input channels to any of a plurality of output channels, comprising:
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receiving optical signals at each of N optical routers in a first router stage;
routing separate wavelength channels received at said first router stage to selected one of N×
N optical outputs at an optical interface of said first router stage;
rotating said first router stage in relation to a second router stage;
interconnecting said N×
N optical outputs of said first stage to N×
N optical inputs at each of N optical routers in a second router stage; and
routing separate wavelength channels received at the N×
N optical inputs of each said optical router of said second router stage to an optical output;
wherein rows within the N×
N optical outputs of said first router stage are interconnected with columns within the N×
N optical inputs of said second router stage, and wherein columns within the N×
N optical outputs of said first router stage are interconnected with rows within the N×
N optical inputs of said second router stage. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. A method of interconnecting two-dimensional arrays of optical waveguides from integrated wavelength division multiplex routers in a cross-coupled configuration, comprising:
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stacking a first plurality of optical substrates, each having a plurality of waveguide optical connections extending from wavelength division multiplex routers;
stacking a second plurality of optical substrates, each having a plurality of waveguide optical connections extending from wavelength division multiplex routers;
wherein when joined in said stacked configuration a two dimensional array of waveguide optical connections is created on an optical interface;
wherein said optical interface is adapted for receiving optical fibers;
wherein opposite the optical interface end of the optical substrates in the stacked configuration is joined a two-dimensional micromirror array for directing channels to one of the outputs on an input stack, or from one of the inputs on an output stack;
rotating said first plurality of optical substrates in relation to said second plurality of optical substrates; and
joining the stack of said first plurality of optical substrates to the stack of said second plurality of optical substrates forming a cross-connected set of interconnects. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53)
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Specification