Waveguide type optical switch

摘要

A waveguide type optical switch that can reduce the number of intersections in a matrix optical switch having the configuration of connecting unit optical switches and optical combining devices or optical branching devices to have a connecting function from “multiple inputs to one output” to “one input to multiple outputs”. To reduce the number of intersections in an entire matrix optical switch, an optical combining device of M inputs and one output is divided into (M−1) pieces of unit optical combining elements each having two inputs and one output, which are arranged immediately after (N−1) pieces of respective output ports excluding one piece of the output port closer to the input in the matrix optical switch out of N pieces of the output ports in the optical switch of one input and N outputs.

主权项

1. A waveguide type optical switch having a form of a matrix optical switch of M inputs and N outputs formed on a single substrate, where M and N are integers different from each other, M and N each having a value greater than or equal to three, the matrix optical switch comprising:
M optical switches each having one input and N outputs; and N optical combining devices each having M inputs and one output, wherein
the a-th input of the matrix optical switch is the input of the a-th optical switch, where a is an integer from 1 to M,the b-th output of the matrix optical switch is the output of the b-th optical combining device, where b is an integer from 1 to N,each of the optical switches consists of N−1 unit optical switch elements each having one input and two outputs, andeach of the optical combining devices consists of M−1 unit optical combining elements each having two inputs and one output, wherein for each optical switch,
the input of the first unit optical switch element forms the input of the optical switch,one of the outputs of the i-th unit optical switch element is connected to the input of the (i+1)-th unit optical switch element, where i is an integer from 1 to N−2,the other of the outputs of the i-th unit optical switch element forms the i-th output of the optical switch, andthe two outputs of the (N−1)-th unit optical switch element form the (N−1)-th output and the N-th output of the optical switch, wherein for each optical combining device,
the two inputs of the first unit optical combining element form the first and second inputs of the optical combining device,one of the inputs of the j-th unit optical combining element is connected to the output of the (j−1)-th unit optical combining element, where j is an integer from 2 to M−1,the other of the inputs of the j-th unit optical combining element forms the (j+1)-th input of the optical combining device, andthe output of the (M−1)-th unit optical combining element forms the output of the optical combining device, wherein in the matrix optical switch,
the p-th optical switch and the q-th optical combining device are connected between any output in the p-th optical switch and any input in the q-th optical combining device, where p is an integer from 1 to M and q is an integer from 1 to N, wherein
in a case where any output in the p-th optical switch is the k-th output in the connection, any input in the q-th optical combining device is the k′-th input, k being an integer from 1 to N and k′ being an integer from 1 to M, andin a case where k is from 2 to N−1 in the connection, a waveguide intersection is not included in the connection between the output of the unit optical switch element forming the k-th output in the p-th optical switch and the input of the unit optical combining element forming the k′-th input in the q-th optical combining device.