METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SELECTING SIGNAL COMPONENTS FROM OPTICAL SIGNALS

摘要

A selector assembly to select and deselect signal components from optical signals is disclosed. The selector assembly has an input optical connector for optically connecting an input optical signal carrier to the selector assembly and an output optical connector for optically connecting the selector assembly to an output optical signal carrier. A signal demultiplexer is operatively positioned relative to the input optical connector so that optical signals passing into the selector assembly are demultiplexed by the demultiplexer into signal components, each signal component having a respective signal component beam path. A signal selector is provided in each of the signal component beam paths, each signal selector being switchable by the application of an electric field between at least a selecting state and a deselecting state such that each of the signal components may be either selected or deselected. A controller is coupled to the selector elements for turning on and off the electric field for switching the selectors. A signal multiplexer is operatively positioned between the signal selector and the output optical connector for multiplexing the selected signal components together after selection.