METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR WAVELENGTH-SELECTIVE SWITCHES AND MODULATORS

摘要

An apparatus and method are provided for manipulating light beams propagated through an optical apparatus that includes a planar lightwave circuit (PLC) and free-space optics unit. A multi-wave optical signal coupled to the PLC is propagated through a first (222) and second (230) waveguide array router to generate a phased array output at an edge facet of the PLC . The phased array output at the edge facet is spatially Fourier transformed by the lens (135) to generate a spectrally resolved image having a discrete light spot for each channel of the input optical signal, which is coupled to a pixelated optical receiving unit (140) . The dispersion provided by the combined first and second waveguide array routes has the shape of a stair-case.