摘要 |
An optical device enabling reducing device scale is constituted by M circulators ( 11 a, 11 b), (M being a natural number), a waveguide-type diffraction grating ( 12 ) including M first input/output waveguides ( 121 a, 121 b) formed at its one end and MxN second input/output waveguides ( 125 a- 1 to 125 a-N and 125 b- 1 to 125 b-N) formed at the other end, (N being a natural number), and paths from the M circulators being connected to the M first input/output waveguides; and N reflection-type optical switches ( 13 - 1 to 13 -N) each for reflecting the optical paths for M adjacent waveguides out of the MxN second input/output waveguides ( 125 a- 1 to 125 a-N and 125 b- 1 to 125 b-N) and for switching over the returning-destination waveguide respectively, wherein the M circulators, the waveguide-type diffraction grating and N reflection-type optical switches are arranged in cascade. Consequently, the optical device can function preferably also as a wavelength selective optical switch available in a WDM transmission system.
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