| 摘要 |
The present invention provides an optical switch in which a switching operation is not affected even when the polarization state of a control light varies. The optical switch comprises a loop-form optical waveguide loop circuit formed from an optical nonlinear medium, control light input means of phase control means for inputting the control light into the optical waveguide loop circuit, and a wavelength demultiplexing/multiplexing circuit. The optical waveguide loop circuit is constituted by an optical path formed from a first optical fiber extending from an optical demultiplexer/multiplexer to the control light input means, an optical path formed from a second optical fiber extending from the control light input means to the wavelength demultiplexing/multiplexing circuit, and an optical path formed from a fourth optical fiber extending from the wavelength demultiplexing/multiplexing circuit and returning to the optical demultiplexer/multiplexer. The wavelength demultiplexing/multiplexing circuit is formed as a loop-form optical waveguide loop circuit by a third optical fiber connecting a wavelength demultiplexer and a multiplexer, a fifth optical fiber connecting the wavelength demultiplexer and a polarization plane rotation portion, and a sixth optical fiber connecting the polarization plane rotation portion and the multiplexer.
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