Optical switch

About: Optical switch is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 28538 publications have been published within this topic receiving 351176 citations.

All-optical, all-fiber circulating shift register with an inverter.

Abstract: An all-optical fiber Sagnac interferometer switch and erbium amplifier have been combined to form an all-optical 254-bit circulating shift register with an inverter. This simple optical loop memory demonstrates the cascadability of Sagnac interferometer switches.

Realization and Application of Large-Scale Fast Optical Circuit Switch for Data Center Networking

Abstract: Applying optical switching to data center networks can greatly expand network bandwidth and reduce electrical power consumption, both of which are needed to meet the explosive traffic increase. The optical switch offers large bandwidth switching capability, and so eliminates the multistage switch network architecture needed with electrical switching. Furthermore, the single stage architecture of the optical switch greatly simplifies operating costs, which include cabling, while substantially reducing the number of transponders needed. Data center networks place very different demands on optical systems than communication networks. Grasping the right direction to proceed is of paramount importance. To realize the full potential of optical switches, such as scalability and cost effectiveness, we analyze the role of large-scale optical circuit switches and discuss the realization technologies that combine the two dimensions of space and wavelength. Our recent advances in large port-count optical switches are presented.

Optical interconnection system

Abstract: An opto-electric jack (40) is provided which can be used as a drop-in replacement for a standard electrical jack such as an RJ-type or D-subminiature type jack. The opto-electric jack (40) includes housing (12) having a receptacle (120) for receiving an optical plug (500) which is coupled to a fiber optic cable, and a plurality of electrical terminals (70) for connection to an electrical circuit. Preferably, the terminals (70) are arranged in a predetermined array which corresponds to the terminal array (70) of a standard electrical jack. An opto-electric conversion circuit is disposed within the housing (12), and is operable to convert optical signals received from the optical plug into electrical signals for transmission to the electrical circuit via the terminals (70), and to convert electrical signals received from the electrical circuit via the terminals (70) into optical signals which are transmitted to the optical plug (500).

Apparatus and method for 2-dimensional steered-beam NxM optical switch using single-axis mirror arrays and relay optics

Abstract: A beam steering module and switching system. The steering module is composed of a N×M array of single axis mirrors able to rotate about a particular axis (X-axis), a second N×M array of single axis mirrors able to rotate about an axis orthogonal to that of the first N×M array of mirrors (Y-axis), and a relay lens designed to image the first mirror array onto the second mirror array such that the beam angle may be controlled in both the X and Y-axis by adjusting the angle of the appropriate mirrors in the X and Y mirror arrays. Two steering modules may be combined to form a switching system. With two such steering modules, it is possible to completely determine, at the plane of the output fiber array, the position and angle of an optical beam emerging from any of the input fibers.

Protein-based integrated optical switching and modulation

Abstract: The static and dynamic response of optical waveguides coated with a thin protein film of bacteriorhodopsin was investigated. The size and kinetics of the light-induced refractive index changes of the adlayer were determined under different conditions of illumination. The results demonstrate the applicability of this protein as an active, programmable nonlinear optical material in all-optical integrated circuits.