| 摘要 |
The number of wavelength selective switch (WSS) units in a WSS device can be doubled by using polarization properties of optical beams propagating through the WSS device. Beams from different WSS units are orthogonally polarized at the front end, propagated through collimator, wavelength dispersing element, and a focusing element, and impinge on a polarizing beamsplitter, which directs sub-beams at different polarizations to different directing elements of a director array. A polarization diversity configuration at the back end can be used to reduce polarization dependent loss. |
| 主权项 |
1. A WSS comprising:
first and second FAUs for launching first and second light beams, respectively, each one of the first and second light beams comprising a plurality of wavelength channels, each one of the first and second FAUs including a plurality of optical fibers for wavelength selective switching wavelength channels therebetween; first and second polarizers optically coupled to the first and second FAUs, respectively, for polarizing the first and second light beams, respectively; a first beam combiner optically coupled to the first and second polarizers, for combining the polarized first and second light beams, respectively, into a first combined beam, in which the first and second light beams are orthogonally polarized; a collimator optically coupled to the first beam combiner, for collimating the first combined beam; a wavelength dispersing element optically coupled to the collimator, for dispersing the first combined beam into a first plurality of wavelength groups, each group comprising one of the wavelength channels from each one of the orthogonally polarized first and second light beams; a focusing element optically coupled to the wavelength dispersing element, for focusing the first plurality of wavelength groups; a first polarizing beamsplitter optically coupled to the focusing element, for separating each one of the first plurality of wavelength groups into first and second wavelength channels corresponding to the first and second orthogonally polarized light beams, respectively; and a director array downstream of the first polarizing beamsplitter, the director array comprising first and second rows of directors for independently redirecting the first and second wavelength channels, respectively, to propagate back through the first polarizing beamsplitter, the focusing element, the wavelength dispersing element, the collimator, the first beam combiner, the first and second polarizers, respectively, for independent wavelength-selective coupling into selected optical fibers of the first and second FAUs, respectively. |
