Plarization idependent non-blocking all-optical switching device

Abstract

The present invention includes a polarization independent optical interconnect device for selsctively interconnecting a plurality of optical signals between a plurality of outputs. The present invention may provide advantages typically associated with conventional polarization based switches, including terabit per second data rates and high speed switching, to facilitate use in fiber optic networks. Moreover, the switch of this invention is polarization independent, and therefore, may route either polarized or unpolirized light. Since both the input and output light may be unpolarized, the switch of this invention may have a high light efficiency (i.e. no losses associated with an input polirizer) and minimal insertion losses as compared to typical polarization based switches.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to switching equipment and, in particular, to optical switching equipment for routing optical signals between multiple inputs and multiple outputs. Background technique [0002] The use of optical fibers, especially for telecommunication transmission media, has many advantages over current telecommunication media such as copper cables. For example, optical fibers can support signals with wider bandwidths, allowing larger amounts of information to be transmitted in a given amount of time. Furthermore, optical fiber emits little or no electromagnetic or radio frequency radiation, so the impact on the environment is negligible. Conversely, optical fibers are relatively insensitive to electromagnetic and radio frequency radiation from the surrounding environment. Therefore, with the development of such fields as supercomputing, telecommunications and military C 3 I applications depend on the ability to route data at ever in...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Since conventional optical fibers cannot maintain the polarization state of light, a polarizer is required during or before each exchange, resulting in a rapid cumulative loss

Although there have been some advances in polarization maintaining fiber technology (see U.S. Patent 4,904,052), these fibers generally cannot maintain the polarization state while maintaining the purity required for polarization exchange

Moreover, polarization maintaining fiber is usually much more expensive than ordinary fiber

One solution is to use an optical amplifier before or after each switching device, although this means bulky equipment and greatly increased costs

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