FIBER OPTIC SMART SWITCH

摘要

A regulating add/drop optical switch controls the switching and output power levels by manipulating signals to polarization modulators. At each input port, the beam is separated into horizontal and vertically polarized components of the light wave. One beam is shifted and the resulting like polarized beams pass through a polarization modulator that controllably rotates polarization to a selected extend to determine whether horizontal or vertical polarization will predominate. If horizontal, the beams pass through a polarization beam separator without deflection. If vertical the beams are reflected. The beams pass through an additional polarization controller to determine if they are to be directed to one of the output ports or dissipated. If selected for output, the beams are collimated before they are launched. A wavelength-selective interference filter allows the present invention to function as a fully configurable n-channel add/drop multiplexer.