FREQUENCY-SELECTIVE OPTICAL SWITCH USING POLARIZATION ROTATION

摘要

A frequency-selective optical switch capable of switching separate optical signals in a physical input channel to a selected output channel. A diffraction grating (12) spatially divides the input channel (10) into its frequency components, which pass through different segments of a liquid-crystal modulator (24). The liquid-crystal modulator segments (20, 22) are separately controlled to rotate the polarization of the frequency channel passing therethrough or to leave it intact. The channels then pass through a polarization-dispersive element (28) which spatially separates the beams (14, 16) in the transverse direction according to their polarization. A second diffraction grating (40) recombines the frequency components of the same polarization into multiple output beams (42, 44).