WAVELENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEXED OPTICAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEMHAVING A RECONFIGURABLE OPTICAL SWITCH AND A TUNABLE BACKUP LASER TRANSMITTER

摘要

In a WDM system (10) that includes a plurality of nodes interconnected by communication links, a node includes a reconfigurable optical switch (2) having a plurality of input ports (24), at least one output port (26) and a plurality of transmitters (2) that are each coupled to the input ports. Each of the transmitters generate an optical signal at a channel wavelength different form the others. The switch is adaptable to receive at any of the input ports any of the chennel wavelengths and directs them to the output port. At least one backup transmitter, which includes a tunable laser tunabl e to any of the channel wavelengths, is coupled to one of the input ports. The switch includes at least one wavelength selective element, which selects at least one wavelength among the wavelengths received at the input ports, and a plurality of optical elements associated with the wavelength selective elements.