A large-port wavelength selective optical switch and wavelength selection method

Abstract

The application relates to the field of optical fiber communication, in particular to a large-port wavelength selection optical switch and a wavelength selection method. Mainly comprising: input and output devices, polarization conversion devices, lens groups, light splitting devices and control chips, the input and output devices comprising at least two independent optical fiber array assemblies, the optical fiber array assemblies being arranged according to the distribution direction of the ports; the polarization conversion devices convert optical signals into specified polarization states, the direction of the polarization states of the optical signals being perpendicular to the distribution plane of the optical fibers in the optical fiber array assemblies; the light splitting devices comprising grating surfaces with specified curvatures or light splitting prisms containing at least two different incident surface angles, and separating different wavelengths in the optical signals incident on the lens groups according to specific angles. The application can reduce the sensitivity of the optical fiber array in the optical path of the multi-port, and reduce the debugging and packaging difficulty of the optical path.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of optical fiber communication, and in particular to a large-port wavelength selective optical switch and wavelength selection method. Background Technology

[0002] Wavelength Selective Switch (WSS) is the core component of Reconfigurable Optical Add-Drop Multiplexer (ROADM). It can switch, attenuate, or block optical signals of any wavelength or combination of wavelengths at any port, and is one of the key products in the current optical communication industry.

[0003] Currently, the mainstream commercial wavelength selective optical switch technology is the WSS (Wavelength Selective Switch) based on Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCOS) chips. Due to the optical characteristics of LCOS chips, this solution's wavelength selective optical switch optical path is characterized by a compact structure, large optical path aberrations, and high sensitivity to optical parameters. Manufacturers in the industry typically add aspherical lenses and special material optical components to ensure the module's optical performance. This method can improve the sensitivity of the wavelength selective optical switch optical path to some extent, but it increases the manufacturing difficulty of the optical module and raises the product cost. However, as the number of wavelength selective optical switch ports increases, the design and processing difficulty of aspherical lenses also increases dramatically, and the optimization effect cannot meet expectations, with significant losses due to optical path aberrations.

[0004] Therefore, how to overcome the shortcomings of existing technologies and solve the problem of high design and manufacturing difficulty caused by the increase in the number of wavelength-selective switching port data is a problem to be solved in this technical field. Summary of the Invention

[0005] In view of the above-mentioned defects or improvement needs of the existing technology, the present invention solves the problems of high design and manufacturing difficulty and high loss of existing large-port wavelength selective switches.

[0006] The embodiments of the present invention adopt the following technical solutions:

[0007] In a first aspect, the present invention provides a large-port wavelength-selective optical switch, specifically comprising an input / output device 10, a polarization conversion device 20, a lens group 30, a beam splitter 40, and a control chip 50. Specifically, the input / output device 10 includes at least two independent fiber array components arranged according to the port distribution direction. Optical signals enter the wavelength-selective optical switch through the external ports of the input / output device 10. The polarization conversion device 20 is used to convert the optical signals entering through the input / output device 10 into a specified polarization state. For a silicon-based liquid crystal control chip, the direction of the polarization state of the optical signal is... Perpendicular to the fiber distribution plane in the fiber array assembly; the lens group 30 incident the light signal converted by the polarization device parallel to the beam splitter 40; the beam splitter 40 includes a beam splitter prism with a specified curvature grating surface or containing at least two different incident surface angles, which separates different wavelengths in the light signal incident by the lens group 30 at a specific angle; the control chip 50 deflects the light signal of each wavelength by a specified angle according to the control signal and reflects it back to the beam splitter 40, and then through the lens group 30 and the polarization conversion device 20, the wavelength selection light switch is emitted in parallel from different external ports of the input / output device 10.

[0008] Preferably, the fiber array assembly includes: a fiber array 11, a lens array 12, and a spot-changing lens 13. Specifically, the fiber array 11 includes at least two optical fibers distributed in the same plane, each optical fiber being arranged parallel to each other at a specific interval; the lens array 12 includes at least two microlenses arranged linearly, the center of each microlens being aligned with the core of each optical fiber in the fiber array 11; the spot-changing lens 13 includes one or more cylindrical lenses, the central axis of each cylindrical lens being aligned with the fiber array 11 and the lens array 12.

[0009] Preferably, for the fiber array component of the outgoing optical signal at the high port position, the angle of the fiber array component corresponding to the outgoing optical signal is adjusted in the plane perpendicular to the distribution of the fiber array 11 so that it is consistent with the rotation angle of the two polarized beams, so that the two polarized beams can be output in parallel from the output port.

[0010] Preferably, the polarization conversion device 20 exists as a separate optical element or is integrated into the fiber array assembly to improve the integration of the optical module.

[0011] Preferably, the beam splitting device 40 includes a beam splitting prism and a planar grating. Specifically, the beam splitting prism includes an incident surface and a grating surface; the grating surface of the beam splitting prism is bonded to the planar grating, or the planar grating is glued to the grating surface of the prism during manufacturing.

[0012] Preferably, the beam splitting device 40 further includes: the grating surface of the beam splitting prism is provided with a specific curvature along the direction of the fiber array assembly, the curvature being such that when the incident light signal in the fiber array assembly at the high port position is incident on the prism grating, the angle between the incident surface and the grating surface is 90°.

[0013] Preferably, the beam splitter 40 consists of at least two prism grating regions. Specifically, the incident surface and grating surface of all regions of the prism grating are planar, and there is a specific angle between the incident surfaces of different regions of the prism grating. Each prism grating region is used to receive the incident light of an array of fiber optic components, so that when the incident light signal in the fiber optic array component at the high port position is incident on the prism grating, the angle between the incident surface and the grating surface is maintained or close to 90°.

[0014] Preferably, the control chip 50 is any one of a silicon-based liquid crystal chip, a liquid crystal chip, and a MEMS chip.

[0015] Preferably, the polarization conversion device 20 is specifically a polarizing prism and / or a polarizing lens group.

[0016] On the other hand, the present invention provides a wavelength selection method, specifically: using a large-port wavelength selection optical switch of the first aspect, in a plane perpendicular to the distribution of the fiber array 11, the angle of the fiber array component corresponding to the outgoing optical signal is adjusted so that it is consistent with the rotation angle of the two polarized light beams, so that the output optical signal is output parallel from the fiber port; the incident light enters the wavelength selection optical switch from the external port of the input / output device 10, and is split into beams of different wavelengths by the polarization conversion device 20, the lens group 30 and the beam splitter 40 to reach the control chip 50. The beams of different wavelengths are emitted parallel from different external ports of the input / output device 10 according to the control of the control chip 50, by the beam splitter 40, the lens group 30 and the polarization conversion device 20.

[0017] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the embodiments of the present invention are as follows: using multiple independent fiber array components as input / output devices 10 allows the angle of each fiber array component to be adjusted independently, thereby reducing the sensitivity of the fiber array 11 in a multi-port optical path and reducing the difficulty of optical path debugging and packaging. Furthermore, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the parallelism of the output optical signal is further improved by coordinating a specific beam splitter structure with the angles of different fiber array components, reducing insertion loss and polarization-dependent loss introduced by off-axis aberration. Attached Figure Description

[0018] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the accompanying drawings used in the embodiments of the present invention will be briefly described below. Obviously, the drawings described below are merely some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without any creative effort.

[0019] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of a large-port wavelength selection switch provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0020] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the input / output device in a large-port wavelength selective switch provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an optical fiber array component in a large-port wavelength selective switch provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a beam splitting device in a large-port wavelength selective switch provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of another beam splitting device in a large-port wavelength selective switch provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the optical path of a wavelength selection method provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of an optical path for a mid-splitter device in a wavelength selection method provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 8 Another optical path schematic diagram of a beam splitter for a wavelength selection method provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0027] The accompanying figure is labeled as follows:

[0028] 10: Input / output device; 11: Fiber optic array; 12: Lens array; 13: Beam-changing lens; 14: First fiber optic array assembly; 15: Second fiber optic array assembly; 16: Third fiber optic array assembly.

[0029] 20: Polarization conversion device

[0030] 30: Lens group,

[0031] 40: Beam splitter; 41: Prism grating region 1; 42: Prism grating region 2; 43: Prism grating region 3.

[0032] 50: Control chip. Detailed Implementation

[0033] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this invention clearer, the invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative and not intended to limit the invention.

[0034] This invention is an architecture of a specific functional system. Therefore, the specific embodiments mainly describe the functional logic relationship of each structural module, and do not limit the specific software and hardware implementation methods.

[0035] Furthermore, the technical features involved in the various embodiments of the present invention described below can be combined with each other as long as they do not conflict with each other. The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0036] Example 1:

[0037] Port consistency is a crucial indicator for evaluating fiber optic array components. As the number of wavelength-selective optical switch ports increases, the number of fibers in the fiber array and lenses in the lens array also increases, leading to a larger overall size of the fiber array. All of these factors increase the difficulty of controlling port consistency in fiber optic array components. Simultaneously, with the increase in the number of ports, off-axis aberrations in the optical path increase, especially the insertion loss and polarization-dependent loss at higher port positions, which limits the increase in the number of wavelength-selective switch ports. To address these issues, this invention provides a wavelength-selective switch that reduces insertion loss and polarization-dependent loss at higher port positions, making wavelength-selective optical switches with larger ports possible.

[0038] like Figure 1 As shown, the large-port wavelength selection switch provided in this embodiment includes an input / output device 10, a polarization conversion device 20, a lens group 30, a beam splitter 40, and a control chip 50.

[0039] like Figure 2 As shown, the input / output device 10 includes at least two independent fiber optic array 11 components. The fiber optic array 11 components are arranged according to the port distribution direction. The optical signal enters the wavelength-selective optical switch through the external port of the input / output device 10. For ease of description, in this embodiment, the multiple fiber optic array components are sequentially numbered as: the first fiber optic array component, the second fiber optic array component, ..., the nth fiber optic array component. Figure 2Taking three fiber optic array components as an example, in actual implementation, the number of fiber optic array components, their arrangement, and the number of fibers in each component are determined according to actual needs. By dividing a fiber optic array component containing multiple signal input / output ports into multiple independently adjustable fiber optic array components, the number of ports in a single fiber optic array component is reduced, lowering the processing requirements and facilitating control over port consistency indicators.

[0040] like Figure 3 As shown, each fiber array component includes: fiber array 11, lens array and spot-changing lens 13.

[0041] The fiber optic array 11 includes at least two optical fibers distributed in the same plane, each fiber arranged parallel to each other at a specific interval. Specifically, each fiber can be arranged at an interval of 50 micrometers to 500 micrometers. The lens array 12 includes at least two microlenses, the center of each microlens being aligned with the core of each optical fiber in the fiber optic array 11. The spot-changing lens 13 includes one or more cylindrical lenses, the central axis of each cylindrical lens being aligned with the corresponding fiber optic array 11 and the corresponding lens array 12. Compared to the fiber optic arrays in existing wavelength-selective optical switches, each fiber optic array component provided in this embodiment is independent, and each fiber optic array component contains fewer optical fibers, making it easier to set up and calibrate the optical path. By integrating the input fiber optic array 11, the lens array 12, and the spot-changing lens 13 into one unit, the fiber optic array component improves the integration of the optical module, significantly reduces the sensitivity of the fiber optic array in the optical path, and reduces the difficulty of debugging and packaging the optical path.

[0042] Furthermore, for wavelength selective switches, the incident light signal is split into two beams with mutually perpendicular polarization states. These two beams have a large angle in the horizontal direction, resulting in significant differences in their paths. When the incident light signal is from the fiber array component at the center, the two polarized beams will rotate at a certain angle for the fiber array component of the outgoing light signal at a higher port position. By adjusting the angle of the fiber array component corresponding to the outgoing light signal within a plane perpendicular to the distribution of the fiber array 11, it can be aligned with the rotation angle of the two polarized beams. This allows the two polarized beams to be output parallel to each other from the output port, thereby reducing insertion loss and polarization-dependent loss in the optical path. Dividing the existing fiber array component in a wavelength selective optical switch into multiple fiber array components significantly reduces the number of fibers and lenses in a single fiber array component, lowering the manufacturing difficulty of the fiber array component.

[0043] The polarization conversion device 20 is used to convert the optical signal entering through the input / output device 10 into a specified polarization state. For silicon-based liquid crystal control chips, the direction of the polarization state of the optical signal is perpendicular to the optical fiber distribution plane in the fiber array assembly. The polarization conversion device 20 is generally a polarizing beam splitter (PBS), a polarizing beam splitter, or a Wollaston prism. The function of different polarization conversion devices 20 is to convert the incident optical signal into two linearly polarized beams. Among them, the PBS prism generally splits the incident optical signal into two beams that are parallel or perpendicular to each other; the polarizing beam splitter splits the incident optical signal into two beams that are parallel to each other, and its structure is simple and its cost is low. The Wollaston prism splits the incident optical signal into two beams at a certain angle, which is generally small, in the range of about 2° to 10°.

[0044] Furthermore, the polarization conversion device 20 can be used as a standalone optical element or integrated into the fiber array assembly to improve the integration of the optical module.

[0045] The lens group 30 directs the light signal converted by the polarization device onto the beam splitter 40 in parallel, thereby realizing the light signal spot transformation.

[0046] The beam splitter 40 is used to separate different wavelengths of the incident light signal from the lens group 30 at a specific angle. Generally, the 1528nm wavelength and the 1568nm wavelength are separated by about 10°. In typical implementations, the beam splitter is usually a combination of a prism and a grating, referred to as a prism grating. In this embodiment, the beam splitter 40 includes a beam splitting prism and a planar grating. The beam splitting prism includes an incident surface and a grating surface. The grating surface of the beam splitting prism is bonded to the planar grating, or the planar grating is glued to the grating surface of the prism during fabrication. In specific implementations, the grating surface of the beam splitting prism can be bonded to the planar grating using adhesive, "optical adhesive," or other processes, or the planar grating can be directly glued to the grating surface of the prism.

[0047] Furthermore, when the optical signal in the optical fiber at the center of the input / output device 10 is incident on the prism grating via the polarization conversion device 20 and the lens group 30, the incident surface is perpendicular to the grating surface. When the optical signal in the optical fiber at the larger port is incident on the grating surface, there is a certain angle between the incident surface and the grating surface, causing different wavelengths to have different diffraction angles in the plane perpendicular to the grating incident surface. The larger the number of wavelength selective switch ports, the larger the angle between the incident surface and the grating surface, and the greater the angular difference between different wavelengths in the plane perpendicular to the grating. In the wavelength selective switch provided by the present invention, this effect can be completely or largely solved by setting a grating surface with a specified curvature or a beam splitter prism containing at least two different incident surface angles on the beam splitter, thus realizing a wavelength selective switch with a larger port.

[0048] The following are two simple examples of available optical splitting devices.

[0049] (1) As Figure 4 As shown, the grating surface of the beam splitter has a specific curvature along the direction of the fiber array assembly. This curvature ensures that when the incident light signal from the fiber array assembly at the high port position is incident on the prism grating, the angle between the incident surface and the grating surface remains at or close to 90°. The specific curvature on the incident surface allows different incident angles to be generated at different positions, ensuring that when the incident light signal from the fiber array assembly at the high port position is incident on the prism grating, the angle between the incident surface and the grating surface remains at or close to 90°. This eliminates or reduces the angular differences between different wavelengths in the plane perpendicular to the grating after diffraction by the prism grating, improving the insertion loss and polarization-dependent loss problems corresponding to the large port.

[0050] (2) Figure 5 As shown, the beam splitter 40 consists of at least two prism grating regions. The incident surface and grating surface of all regions of the prism grating are planar. A specific angle exists between the incident surfaces of different regions of the prism grating. Each prism grating region is used to receive incident light from one array of fiber optic components. In practice, the specific angle is typically between 0° and 5°. For ease of description, each prism grating region is referred to as prism grating region 1 41, prism grating region 2 42, ..., prism grating region n, where prism grating region 1 41 is used to receive the optical signal incident from the first array of fiber optic components, prism grating region 2 42 is used to receive the optical signal incident from the second array of fiber optic components, and so on. Figure 5 Taking three prism grating regions as an example, namely prism grating region 1 (41), prism grating region 2 (42), and prism grating region 3 (43), the incident surface and the grating surface of different regions of the prism grating are set at different angles. This ensures that when the incident light signal in the fiber array component at the high port position is incident on the prism grating, the angle between the incident surface and the grating surface remains at or close to 90°, thus improving the insertion loss and polarization-dependent loss problems corresponding to the large port.

[0051] Of the two methods described above, structure (1) is a continuous curved surface, which allows for more accurate matching of incident light at different angles, but the surface processing is more complex; structure (2) is composed of multiple planes spliced ​​together, and angle matching may occur at the joints, but the processing is simpler. In actual implementation, one method can be selected for use alone or in combination, depending on actual needs and processing technology. Alternatively, other similar shapes or processing technologies can be used with reference to the above technical solutions.

[0052] The control chip 50 deflects the light signal of each wavelength by a specified angle according to the control signal and reflects it back to the beam splitter 40. After passing through the lens group 30 and the polarization conversion device 20, the light signals are emitted in parallel from different external ports of the input / output device 10, selecting the optical switch. The control chip 50 performs the switching function of the optical switch according to the control signal. When the optical switch needs to be opened, the control chip 50 reflects the light signal, causing it to return in the opposite direction to the input optical path device and finally be emitted from the input / output device 10. When the switch needs to be closed, the control chip 50 does not reflect the light signal. In actual implementation, the control chip 50 is specifically a silicon-based liquid crystal chip, a liquid crystal chip, or a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) chip. Among them, silicon-based liquid crystal chips can achieve flexible bandwidth adjustment and are preferred in this invention.

[0053] The large-port wavelength selective optical switch provided in this embodiment reduces the difficulty of adjusting and assembling the optical path by using multiple fiber array components that can independently adjust their angle and position. In addition, it reduces the difference in incident angle at high port positions by using a multi-angle beam splitter for the incident light angle of the fiber array components. This can solve the problems of high processing difficulty and high loss when there are many traditional wavelength selective optical switches with a large number of ports.

[0054] Example 2:

[0055] For large-port wavelength selective switches, as the number of optical fibers and lenses in the fiber array assembly increases, the port consistency index of the fiber array assembly becomes more difficult to control. To solve this problem, based on the large-port wavelength selective optical switch provided in Embodiment 1, this embodiment also provides a wavelength selection method, which completes the wavelength selection of the optical signal by using the wavelength selective optical switch in Embodiment 1.

[0056] For the sake of simplicity, the following is based on Figure 1 The following explanation uses a large-port wavelength selective switch structure as an example. The input / output unit includes three fiber optic array components: a first fiber optic array component 14, a second fiber optic array component 15, and a third fiber optic array component 16. In practical implementation, the wavelength selection process can be completed according to the actual structure of the large-port wavelength selective switch.

[0057] Because the input / output device 10 of the large-port wavelength-selective optical switch provided in Embodiment 1 contains multiple independent fiber array components. For a wavelength-selective switch, the incident light signal is split into two beams with mutually perpendicular polarization states. The two beams have a large angle in the horizontal direction, and their paths will differ significantly. When the incident light signal is the second fiber array component 15 at the center position, the path difference between the two beams is even greater for the first fiber array component 14 at the high port. To ensure that the port corresponding to each fiber array component can maintain off-axis aberration within a reasonable range, thereby reducing the insertion loss and polarization-dependent loss introduced by off-axis aberration, for a wavelength-selective switch, the incident light signal is split into two beams with mutually perpendicular polarization states. The two beams have a large angle in the horizontal direction, and their paths will differ significantly. When the incident light signal is the fiber array component at the center position, for the fiber array component of the outgoing light signal at the high port position, the two polarized beams will rotate at a certain angle. In a plane perpendicular to the distribution of the fiber array, the angle of the fiber array component corresponding to the outgoing light signal is adjusted to match the rotation angle of the two polarized beams. This allows the two polarized beams to be output in parallel from the output port, thereby reducing the insertion loss and polarization-related loss of the optical path.

[0058] After the optical path of all fiber array components is adjusted, selective connection and disconnection of different wavelengths can be achieved. The incident light enters the wavelength selective optical switch through the external port of the input / output device 10, and is split into beams of different wavelengths by the polarization conversion device 20, the lens group 30 and the beam splitter to reach the control chip 50. According to the control of the control chip 50, the beams of different wavelengths are split by the beam splitter 40, the lens group 30 and the polarization conversion device 20, and are emitted in parallel from different external ports of the input / output device 10.

[0059] like Figure 6As shown, the optical signal is incident on one of the optical fibers in the second fiber array assembly 15, becoming incident optical signal L1. After passing through the polarization conversion device 20, the incident optical signal L1 is converted into two linearly polarized beams L2, which are then incident on the lens group 30. The lens group 30 converts the two linearly polarized beams L2 into parallel beams L3, which are then incident on the beam splitter 40. The beam splitter 40 separates the signal light of different wavelengths in L3 at different angles, converting them into L4, which are then incident on the lens group 30. The lens group 30 then incident the optical signals L5 of different wavelengths in L4 onto different areas of the control chip 50. The control chip 50 deflects the incident signal L5 by a certain angle and reverses it along the incident light direction, passing through the reverse optical path L6-L7-L8-L9-L10 of L1-L5, until it exits from one of the optical fibers in the first fiber array assembly 14. The position of the exiting fiber corresponds to the polarization angle of the incident optical signal L5 by the control chip 50. In the above optical path process, the overall debugging and packaging difficulty of the input / output device 10 is reduced by independently adjusting the position and angle of the fiber array components. By setting the angle of the reflective surface at the corresponding position in the beam splitter structure, the optical paths of all outgoing light are made parallel, reducing the insertion loss and polarization-related loss introduced by off-axis aberration.

[0060] In existing wavelength-selective optical switches, when the incident light signal first enters the beam splitter, the incident surface is perpendicular to the plane of the grating. After being reflected by the control chip 50, when the reflected light signal enters the beam splitter a second time, the incident surface of the reflected light signal is not perpendicular to the plane of the grating, resulting in conical diffraction, which in turn leads to increased optical system losses and polarization-dependent losses. To solve this problem, in Embodiment 1, a beam splitter 40 structure with a specific curvature or multiple reflective surfaces at different angles is provided. When placed in the WSS optical path, although the incident positions are different when the light signal enters the beam splitter 40 for the first and second times, the incident surface is always perpendicular to the plane of the grating.

[0061] The following describes the corresponding working process of the large-port wavelength selective optical switch provided in Embodiment 1, with respect to the two different structures of the beam splitter 40 in Embodiment 1.

[0062] (1) As Figure 7 As shown, the structure (1) of the beam splitter 40 in Embodiment 1 is used in the WSS optical path. The beam splitter prism of the prism grating has a specific curvature along the direction of the fiber array assembly. This curvature can cancel or alleviate the angle between the incident surface and the grating surface when the incident light signal in the fiber array assembly at the high port position is incident on the prism grating, thus solving the insertion loss and polarization-dependent loss problems corresponding to the large port.

[0063] (2) Figure 8As shown, the WSS optical path uses the structure (2) of the beam splitter 40 in Embodiment 1. The prism grating consists of a first region 41, a second region 42, and a third region 43. The first region 41 receives the optical signal incident from the first array fiber assembly, the second region 42 receives the optical signal incident from the second array fiber assembly, and the third region 43 receives the optical signal incident from the third array fiber assembly. There is a specific angle between the grating surfaces of different regions of the prism grating. By setting different angles for the grating surfaces of different regions of the prism grating, the angle between the incident surface and the grating surface when the incident optical signal in the fiber array assembly at the high port position is incident on the prism grating can be canceled or alleviated, thus solving the insertion loss and polarization-dependent loss problems corresponding to the large port.

[0064] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, and improvements made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A large-port wavelength-selective optical switch, characterized in that, It includes an input / output device (10), a polarization conversion device (20), a lens group (30), a beam splitter (40), and a control chip (50), specifically: The input / output device (10) includes at least two independent fiber array components. The fiber array components are arranged according to the port distribution direction. The optical signal enters the wavelength selective optical switch through the external port of the input / output device (10). The polarization conversion device (20) is used to convert the optical signal entering through the input / output device (10) into a specified polarization state. For the silicon-based liquid crystal control chip, the direction of the polarization state of the optical signal is perpendicular to the optical fiber distribution plane in the optical fiber array assembly. The lens group (30) directs the light signal converted by the polarization device onto the beam splitter (40) in parallel. The beam splitting device (40) includes a beam splitting prism with a specified curvature grating surface or containing at least two different incident surface angles, which separates different wavelengths in the light signal incident by the lens group (30) at a specific angle. The control chip (50) deflects the light signal of each wavelength by a specified angle according to the control signal and reflects it back to the beam splitter (40). Then, after passing through the lens group (30) and the polarization conversion device (20), the wavelength selection light switch is emitted in parallel from different external ports of the input / output device (10).

2. The large-port wavelength-selective optical switch according to claim 1, characterized in that, The fiber array assembly includes: a fiber array (11), a lens array (12), and a spot-changing lens (13), specifically; The fiber array (11) includes at least two optical fibers distributed in the same plane, each optical fiber being arranged parallel to each other at a specific interval; The lens array (12) includes at least two microlenses arranged in a linear array, the center of each microlens being aligned with the core of each fiber in the fiber array (11); The spot-changing lens (13) includes one or more cylindrical lenses, the central axis of each cylindrical lens being aligned with the fiber array (11) and the lens array (12).

3. The large-port wavelength-selective optical switch according to claim 1, characterized in that, Also includes: For the fiber array component of the outgoing optical signal at the high port position, the angle of the fiber array component corresponding to the outgoing optical signal is adjusted in a plane perpendicular to the distribution of the fiber array (11) so that it is consistent with the rotation angle of the two polarized beams, so that the two polarized beams can be output in parallel from the output port.

4. The large-port wavelength-selective optical switch according to claim 1, characterized in that, Also includes: The polarization conversion device (20) can be used as a standalone optical element or integrated into the fiber array assembly to improve the integration of the optical module.

5. The large-port wavelength-selective optical switch according to claim 1, characterized in that, The beam splitting device (40) includes a beam splitting prism and a planar grating, specifically; A beam splitter includes an incident surface and a grating surface; The grating surface of the beam splitter is bonded to the plane grating, or the plane grating is glued to the grating surface of the prism during fabrication.

6. The large-port wavelength-selective optical switch according to claim 5, characterized in that, The beam splitter (40) further includes: The grating surface of the beam splitter is provided with a specific curvature along the direction of the fiber array assembly. The curvature is such that when the incident light signal in the fiber array assembly at the high port position is incident on the prism grating, the angle between the incident surface and the grating surface is 90°.

7. The large-port wavelength-selective optical switch according to claim 5, characterized in that, It also includes that the beam splitter (40) consists of at least two prism grating regions, specifically: The incident surface and the grating surface of all regions of the prism grating are planes. There are specific angles between the incident surfaces of different regions of the prism grating. Each prism grating region is used to receive the incident light of an array of fiber optic components, so that when the incident light signal in the fiber optic array component at the high port position is incident on the prism grating, the angle between the incident surface and the grating surface remains 90°.

8. The large-port wavelength-selective optical switch according to claim 1, characterized in that, The control chip (50) is specifically either a liquid crystal chip or a MEMS chip.

9. The large-port wavelength-selective optical switch according to claim 1, characterized in that, The polarization conversion device (20) is specifically a polarizing prism and / or a polarizing lens group.

10. A wavelength selection method, characterized in that: Using the large-port wavelength selective optical switch provided in any one of claims 1-9, in a plane perpendicular to the distribution of the fiber array (11), the angle of the fiber array component corresponding to the outgoing optical signal is adjusted so that it is consistent with the angle of rotation of the two polarized beams, so that the output optical signal is output from the fiber port in parallel. The incident light enters the wavelength-selective optical switch through the external port of the input / output device (10), and is split into beams of different wavelengths by the polarization conversion device (20), lens group (30) and beam splitting device (40) to reach the control chip (50). The beams of different wavelengths are controlled by the control chip (50), and are emitted in parallel through the beam splitting device (40), lens group (30) and polarization conversion device (20) from different external ports of the input / output device (10).

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