WAVELENGTH-SELECTIVE SWITCH FOR SPACE-DIVISION MULTIPLEXED SYSTEMS

• US 20150085884A1
• Filed: 09/19/2014
• Published: 03/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Fontaine, Nicolas K., Neilson, David, Ryf, Roland
• Application Number:
  US14/491,670
• Publication Number:
  US 20150085884A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/542
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/2581 Multimode transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/06 Polarisation multiplex systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0005 Switch and router aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0088 Signalling aspects

Abstract

An optical apparatus includes a front optics section and a spectrometer section. The front optics section includes a spot de-multiplexer configured to receive a plurality of multi-mode optical signals each having a plurality of modal components, and to output in a linear array of a corresponding plurality of optical beams for each multimode optical signal. The spectrometer section includes a wavelength steering element configured to separate each of the optical beams into a plurality of wavelength channels. A fiber steering element is configured to steer the wavelength channels between the optical beams.

Claims

1. An optical apparatus, comprising:

a front optics section including a spot de-multiplexer configured to receive a plurality of multi-mode optical signals each having M modal components, and to output in a linear array M optical beams for each multimode optical signal;

a spectrometer section including;

a wavelength steering element configured to separate each of said optical beams into a plurality of wavelength channels; and

a fiber steering element configured to steer said wavelength channels between said optical beams.

2. The optical apparatus recited in claim 1 wherein said spot demultiplexer includes a plurality of 3D waveguides, each waveguide of said plurality of waveguides corresponding to one of said modal components.

3. The optical apparatus recited in claim 2 wherein said front optics section further includes a plurality of collimators, each collimator being configured to collimate a corresponding one of the optical beams.

4. The optical apparatus recited in claim 1 further comprising a polarization mode de-multiplexer configured to separate polarization modes of said optical beams.

5. The optical apparatus recited in claim 1 wherein said wavelength steering element includes a diffraction grating configured to diffract said optical beams.

6. The optical apparatus recited in claim 1 wherein said spot-demultiplexer includes a photonic lantern configured to separate said multi-mode optical signals into said optical beams.

7. The optical apparatus recited in claim 1 wherein said linear array is arranged such that optical beams that correspond to modal components from same ones of said multi-mode optical signals are grouped together.

9. The method recited in claim 1 wherein said spot demultiplexer includes a plurality of 3D waveguides, each waveguide of said plurality of waveguides corresponding to one of said modal components.

10. The method recited in claim 2 further comprising configuring a plurality of collimators such that each collimator is located to collimate a corresponding one of the optical beams.

11. The method recited in claim 1 further comprising configuring a polarization mode de-multiplexer to separate polarization modes of said optical beams.

12. The method recited in claim 1 wherein said wavelength steering element includes a diffraction grating configured to diffract said optical beams.

13. The method recited in claim 1 wherein said spot-demultiplexer includes a photonic lantern configured to separate said multi-mode optical signals into said optical beams.

14. The method recited in claim 1 wherein said linear array is arranged such that optical beams that correspond to modal components from same ones of said multi-mode optical signals are grouped together.

8. A method of forming an optical apparatus, comprising:

configuring a spot de-multiplexer to receive a plurality of multi-mode optical signals each having M modal components, and to output in a linear array of M optical beams for each multimode optical signal;

locating in a path of said optical beams a wavelength steering element configured to separate each of said optical beams into a plurality of wavelength channels; and

configuring a fiber steering element to steer said wavelength channels between said optical beams.

15. A wavelength-selective switch (WSS), comprising:

a spot demultiplexer configured to receive from a plurality of optical fibers M multi-mode optical signals and form therefrom M*N optical beams, where N>

1;

a diffraction element configured to separate said optical beams into wavelength-resolved optical beams; and

a steering element configured to direct a selected one of said wavelength-resolved optical beams from a first one of said optical fibers to a second one of said optical fibers.

16. The WSS recited in claim 15 wherein said spot-demultiplexer includes a three-dimensional waveguide corresponding to each of said optical beams.

17. The WSS recited in claim 15 wherein said spot-demultiplexer is further operable to arrange said optical beams a linear array in which optical beams corresponding to each multimode optical signal are grouped together.

18. The WSS recited in claim 15 wherein said steering element comprises a liquid-crystal on silicon (LCoS) device.

19. The WSS recited in claim 15 further comprising a polarization diversity element configured to separate polarization modes of said optical signals.

20. The WSS recited in claim 15 wherein said steering element is operable to receive a Fourier transform of said wavelength-resolved optical beams.