Large-port-number wavelength selection switch based on optical beam expanding unit and control method thereof

Abstract

The invention discloses a large-port-number wavelength selection switch based on an optical beam expanding unit and a control method thereof. The large-port-number wavelength selection switch comprises a one-dimensional single mode fiber array, a microlens array, a polarization adjusting prism, the port optical beam expanding unit, a double-glued optical Fourier transformation lens, a transmissive phase diffraction grating, a cylindrical mirror, a liquid crystal spatial light modulator and a liquid crystal graph loading control system. By adding the port optical beam expanding unit into an optical system, maximum allowable width of the one-dimensional single mode fiber array is effectively expanded, so that limitation effect of optical pointing ability of the liquid crystal spatial light modulator on number of fiber ports which can be contained by the wavelength selection switch is eliminated thoroughly, number of output fiber ports in the wavelength selection switch is substantially increased, and fold increase of the number of ports of the wavelength selection switch is realized. The large-port-number wavelength selection switch is simple in structure, easy to manufacture, low in cost and capable of realizing substantial increase of the number of the output ports.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to the fields of optical communication and optical signal processing, in particular to a wavelength selective switch with a high number of ports based on an optical beam expander unit and a control method thereof. Background technique [0002] Since the beginning of the 21st century, with the continuous and huge growth of optical network traffic at a rate of 100 times in 10 years, the existing electrical layer switching technology has many advantages in terms of the number and volume of equipment, information exchange capacity, construction and operation costs, and energy consumption. The "ceiling effect" has become increasingly prominent. Building a next-generation low-energy and high-spectrum-efficiency intelligent all-optical communication network based on all-optical switching, multi-dimensional multiplexing, high-spectrum utilization super-channel transmission and switching technology, and software dynamic adjustment of netwo...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

At the OFC'2015 international conference, Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. reported a 1×40-port silicon-based Research results of liquid crystal WSS processor ("LCOS-based Flexible Grid 1x40Wavelength Selective Switch Using PlanarLightwave Circuit as Spot Size Converter", paper Tu3A.8, OFC'2015); NTT (NTTCorporation) uses complex PLC waveguide grating input / output ports The array implements a 1×95 port liquid crystal on silicon WSS processor ("Ultra-High Port Count Wavelength Selective Switch Employing Waveguide-Based I / O Frontend", paper Tu3A.7, OFC'2015), but due to the use of more complex PLC design, technical indicators such as insertion loss, insertion loss uniformity, and port crosstalk of the equipment have not reached the level that can be used in practice

[0004] Due to the dual limitations of the silicon-based array chip CMOS process and the marginal effect of liquid crystal pixels, even if the most integrated communication band LCoS chip currently available on the market is used, its maximum optical pointing ability is only about ±1°, which limits The maximum allowable width of the input / output fiber port array, so that the number of fiber ports that the wavelength selective switch can accommodate is limited

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