Multistage electro-optical switch

摘要

A multistage optical switch (200) utilizes different types of switching elements to propagate signals through the switch. Embodiments in accordance with the invention include electrical switching elements (214) in one or more stages and optical switching elements (220) in one or more different stages. An optical-to-electrical converter (212) is connected to each signal line input into an electrical switching element (214) and an electrical-to-optical converter (216) is connected to each signal line output of an electrical switching element (214). Fiber optic cables (218) may be used to transmit signals between stages. A multistage optical switch having any desired number of stages can be constructed in accordance with the invention. <IMAGE>