Polarization diverse wavelength selective switch
First Claim
1. An optical signal manipulation system including:
- a plurality of ports that carry respective optical beams to be manipulated, each optical beam including a plurality of independent wavelength channels, the ports being divided into a first group of ports that carry a first subset of beams corresponding to a first optical device and a second group of ports that carry a second subset of beams corresponding to a second optical device;
a polarizing module for polarizing the first subset of beams into a first polarization state and for polarizing the second subset of beams into a second polarization state orthogonal to the first polarization state;
a wavelength dispersion element that spatially separates the plurality of independent wavelength channels of the first and second subsets of beams in the direction of a first dimension to produce a plurality of dispersed wavelength channels;
a separation element that spatially separates the plurality of dispersed wavelength channels of the first and second subsets of beams in the direction of a second dimension orthogonal to the first dimension; and
a processing device including a series of independent wavelength processing elements that separately process each of the dispersed wavelength channels of the first and second subsets of beams, with wavelength channels of the first subset of beams being processed independently of wavelength channels of the second subset of beams at a location spatially separated in the second dimension.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Described herein is a wavelength selective switch (WSS) type optical switching device (1) configured for switching input optical beams from input optical fiber ports (3, 5 and 7) to an output optical fiber port (9). Device (1) includes a wavelength dispersive grism element (13) for spatially dispersing the individual wavelength channels from an input optical beam in the direction of a second axis (y-axis). The optical beams propagate from input ports (3, 5 and 7) in a forward direction and are reflected from a liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) device (11) in a return direction to output port (9). The input optical beams are transmitted through a port selecting module (21), which provides polarization diversity to device (1) and provides capability to restrict optical beams returning from LCOS device (11) from being coupled back into input ports (3, 5 and 7).
-
Citations
23 Claims
-
1. An optical signal manipulation system including:
-
a plurality of ports that carry respective optical beams to be manipulated, each optical beam including a plurality of independent wavelength channels, the ports being divided into a first group of ports that carry a first subset of beams corresponding to a first optical device and a second group of ports that carry a second subset of beams corresponding to a second optical device; a polarizing module for polarizing the first subset of beams into a first polarization state and for polarizing the second subset of beams into a second polarization state orthogonal to the first polarization state; a wavelength dispersion element that spatially separates the plurality of independent wavelength channels of the first and second subsets of beams in the direction of a first dimension to produce a plurality of dispersed wavelength channels; a separation element that spatially separates the plurality of dispersed wavelength channels of the first and second subsets of beams in the direction of a second dimension orthogonal to the first dimension; and a processing device including a series of independent wavelength processing elements that separately process each of the dispersed wavelength channels of the first and second subsets of beams, with wavelength channels of the first subset of beams being processed independently of wavelength channels of the second subset of beams at a location spatially separated in the second dimension. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. An optical switching device for processing optical beams with more than one independent wavelength channel, the device comprising:
-
one or more input ports for inputting optical beams in a forward direction of propagation; a switching module that reflects beams propagating in the forward direction and that selectively switches the optical beams along predetermined paths in a return direction of propagation; one or more output ports for receiving predetermined optical beams propagating in the return direction; and a port selecting module for selectively directing the beams such that predetermined ones of the beams propagating in the return direction propagate along trajectories out of alignment with the input ports, the port selecting module including; a polarization separation element that spatially separates an optical beam into two orthogonal polarization components; a polarization rotation element that selectively rotates the polarization components with respect to each other; and an optical power element that focuses the polarization components together in the direction of spatial separation. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A wavelength manipulation device for independently manipulating optical beams from a first and second source, the optical beams having orthogonal polarizations and including a plurality of individual wavelength channels, the device comprising:
-
a polarizing module that polarizes optical beams from the first source into a first polarization state and that polarizes optical beams from the second source into a second polarization state orthogonal to the first state; a wavelength dispersion element that spatially separates the plurality of wavelength channels from the optical beams in the direction of a first dimension to produce a plurality of dispersed wavelength channels; a separation element that spatially separates the plurality of dispersed wavelength channels in the direction of a second dimension orthogonal to the first dimension; an electrically controllable directing element that simultaneously selectively spatially directs the optical beams from both the first and second sources along predefined trajectories onto a processing device; and the processing device including an array of independently controllable processing elements that separately and independently process the beams from the first and second sources, wherein the electrically controllable directing element is configured to vary the predefined trajectories in response to data indicative of a local temperature of the device. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
-
Specification