FREE-SPACE OPTICAL SIGNAL SWITCH ARRANGEMENT

摘要

A free-space N by M where N and M > 1 optical signal switch (OXC) requires only transmitter beam steering for controlling to which receiver an opt ical signal from a transmitter is directed. In a preferred embodiment the transmitter s handle single mode optical signals and the receivers handle multimode optical signals. The OXC may optionally include a fixed optical unit implemented using e ither a single fixed shared lens or a plurality of M optical elements for further dire cting each of the M optical signals to their respective receivers.