40 results about "Wavelength selective switching" patented technology

A system has a first rack with a first set of servers and a first top of rack switch and a second rack with a second set of servers and a second top of rack switch. A first optical switch is connected to the first top of rack switch. A second optical switch is connected to the second top of rack switch and the first optical switch. The first optical switch and the second optical switch each employ wavelength selective switching.

Optical networks are increasingly employing optical network nodes having multiple interfaces to allow a node to direct optical signals received at any interface to any other interface connected to the node. Constructing a larger wavelength selective switching (WSS) module used in such a node can be complex and expensive. A method an apparatus for constructing a large WSS using parallelism is provided. In example embodiments, a larger WSS may include multiple parallel non-cascaded smaller WSSs and an optical coupler configured to optically couple the multiple parallel, non-cascaded smaller WSSs. This technique may be used to construct both N×1 and 1×N WSSs. Because the technique employs multiple parallel, non-cascaded WSSs, all inputs of a larger N×1 WSS and all outputs of a larger 1×N WSS are available receive or transmit external signals rather than being rather than being unavailable due to, for example, cascading smaller WSS devices together.

Methods and systems for optical communication in a submarine network are provided. An input signal is received from a terminal at a reconfigurable branching unit (BU), and the input signal is split into at least two parts, with one part being associated with one or more trunk terminals and another part being associated with one or more branch terminals. Each of one or more spectrum channels are selected and individually switched to one of a plurality of paths using at least one wavelength selective switch (WSS), with the at least one WSS being configured to transmit the one or more spectrum channels to their respective target output port and to combine signals switched to a specific port into a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) signal. Individual spectrum channels are filtered out using at least one wavelength blocker (WB).

A wavelength selective optical switch particularly usable as a programmable N×M optical switch in a multi-wavelength communication system. The switch uses a grating that separates multi-channel optical signals into a plurality of optical channels, and combines a plurality of optical channels into multi-channel optical signals. Programmable mirrors switch each optical channel to any of a plurality of fibers coupled to the switch.

An optical switching apparatus includes at least one optical waveguide to deliver at least one input optical beam. A dispersion device spatially separates the at least one input optical beam into individual wavelength channels. An optical power device aligns the individual wavelength channels. An optical switch has at least one transflective polarizing element, at least one birefringent wedge and at least two polarization switches. The individual wavelength channels are directed to independently addressable regions of the polarization switches for wavelength selective switching. A second optical power device aligns the individual wavelength channels from the optical switch. A second dispersion device spatially combines individual wavelength channels from the second optical power device. At least one output optical waveguide receives at least one of the individual wavelength channels from the second dispersion device.

A byte-wide optical switch and switching method are provided. The optical switch includes a first set of ports for receiving in parallel an optical byte of data, and multiple second sets of ports each capable of outputting in parallel the optical byte of data. An array of optical switching elements is disposed between the first set of ports and the multiple second sets of ports. The array of optical switching elements direct the optical byte of data in parallel from the first set of ports to at least one second set of ports of the multiple second sets of ports. The switching elements may comprise micro-electro mechanical system (MEMS) devices, each having a position controllable reflective surface. Thin film optical filters can be provided on the reflective surfaces for wavelength selective switching.

An optical module having an integral optical waveguide with waveguide ports at each end. The optical waveguide receives an input light beam through a first waveguide port. The input light beam passes through the waveguide and is emitted from the second waveguide port, where it is reflected by the reflective surface. After being reflected by the reflective surface, the input light beam can be directed onto the surface of a DMD array, where the input light beam can be selectively reflected in a particular direction. The reflective surface may also comprise a diffractive grating, thereby enabling wavelength selective switching. In addition, the reflective surface may comprise a generally concave surface that converts a diverging input light beam into a generally collimated light beam, thereby facilitating more accurate selection and switching by the DMD array.

The invention relates to a device and a method for switching optical wavelength channels. Said optical wavelength channels are introduced into at least one access waveguide provided on a first side of a first multi-mode waveguide (10). Subsequently, the wavelength channels are transmitted through said multi-mode waveguide (10) and projected on at least two connection waveguides provided on the opposite side. Subsequently, the optical wavelength channels are transmitted through the connection waveguides. For each wavelength selective cross-connection structure (2, 4, 6, 8) the phase is changed for a reflecting wavelength of two phase control elements (C1, C2, D1, D2, E1, E2, F1, F2) arranged in a first and a second connection waveguide on a first side of said wavelength selective cross-connection structure (2, 4, 6, 8), simultaneously as at a second side of said wavelength selective cross-connection structure (2, 4, 6, 8) said reflecting wavelength phase remains relatively unchanged. For each wavelength selective cross-connection structure (2, 4, 6, 8) the phase is changed for transmitting wavelengths once in a first and a second direction per wavelength selective cross-connection structure (2, 4, 6, 8). The phase difference between the optical signal in each access waveguide provided on the first side of the second multi-mode waveguide (20) determines where the optical signal is focused on the opposite side.

The disclosure relates to technology for constructing an optical network. A central node is selected among a plurality of nodes in the optical network, and each of the nodes is connected to the central node via a set of superchannels, wherein each of the superchannels includes sub-carriers and has a same data rate. The network resources between the central node and each of the plurality of nodes are managed by dynamically allocating the sub-carrier bandwidths to support communication among the plurality of nodes via the superchannels, and wavelength selective switching is performed among the superchannels at the central node.

Compact systems with reduced insertion loss, and increased switch isolation and switching speed. The switching and/or routing devices utilize a separating sub-system, a switching and/or routing sub-system, and a recombining sub-system.

The wideband optical fiber optical includes a circulator. In addition the amplifier outputs the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) and the S-band optical signals. At least one optical fiber grating is used for passing the C- and L-band optical signals. A wavelength selective splitter outputs the L-band optical signal. A first optical fiber amplifying unit connected with the optical fiber grating and the first port of the wavelength selective splitter, for amplifying the C- and L-band optical signals and for outputting the ASE to the optical fiber grating. A second optical fiber amplifying unit for amplifying the L-band optical signals inputted from the second port of the wavelength selective splitter and for outputting the amplified L-band optical signals to the third terminal of the outputting unit. A third optical fiber amplifying unit amplifies the S-band optical signals input from the third port of the circulator, and outputs the amplified S-band optical signals to the first terminal of the outputting unit.

A wavelength selective switching device comprises a plurality of input paths for receiving optical signals, a plurality of output paths for emitting the optical signals, and a switching unit for selectively directing the optical signals from the input paths to the output paths. The switching unit comprises a reflective area adapted to be concurrently illuminated by a first optical signal from a first input path among the plurality of input paths, and by a second optical signal from a second input path among the plurality of input paths, the second input path being different from the first input path, and to concurrently direct the first optical signal to a first output path among the plurality of output paths and the second optical signal to a second output path among the plurality of output paths, the second output path being different from the first output path. Said first output path and said second output path are spatially separated by said first input path and said second input path, or vice-versa.