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N×N optical switch

  • US 9,575,259 B2
  • Filed: 06/30/2014
  • Issued: 02/21/2017
  • Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2013
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. An optical cross-connect connecting a series of optical input ports to a series of optical output ports, the cross-connect including:

  • at least a first group of input/output port arrays located at spatially separated locations in at least a first horizontal dimension;

    each of the input/output port arrays having a series of optical input/output ports disposed horizontally and configured to project or receive optical signals;

    a plurality of steering elements configured to selectively steer optical signals along switching trajectories between the input and output ports by tilting vertically at predetermined inter-array angles to select a desired input/output port array and by tilting horizontally at predetermined intra-array angles to select a desired input/output port within the desired input/output port array;

    an angle-to-offset conversion unit for converting optical signals propagating at the horizontal intra-array angles to corresponding spatial offset signals in the horizontal dimension; and

    an optical interconnect having a series of input/output regions, each of the input/output regions being specific to a corresponding input/output port array and the input/output regions being divided vertically into elongated switching rows, each input/output region receiving spatial offset signals from the angle-to-offset conversion unit and optically interconnecting each spatial offset signal from a first input/output region to a second input/output region with predetermined interconnects interconnecting the input/output regions based on the inter-array angles of the spatial offset signals.

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