DISTRIBUTION SELECTIVE OPTICAL SWITCH

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To unnecessitate a high/speed electric circuit, to enable the constitution of more inexpensive optical switch and to provide multicast services at low cost by selecting a low-speed optical signal out of high-speed optical time division signals while keeping the state of light. SOLUTION: The optical output signals of (m) pieces of intensity modulators 5 are passed through (m) pieces of optical fibers 6A respectively having relative time delay difference for (m-1)τ and inputted later to m×n star couplers 7 and the time division optical signal at velocity mnV[bit/S] is automatically outputted. This time division optical signal is respectively outputted through N pieces of optical fibers 6B to N pieces of respective selector circuits 8. In this case, the τ is time corresponding to 1/nmV[S]. Then, the time division optical signal outputted from each selector circuit 8 which having the velocity mnV[bit/S] is selected as each signal having velocity V[bit/S] according to routing information from a routing control circuit 10 by each selector circuit 8, detected by a photodetector 9 later and converted out to an electric signal.