An undersea fiber optic cable routing architecture including a branching unit coupled to three trunk cables capable of switching individual fibers in each fiber pair within a cable to either of the other two cables. The branching unit comprises a plurality of optical switches and a controller for receiving remote command signals and configuring the optical switches in accordance with the remote command signals.

The technology described herein relates to a wavelength selective switch (WSS). An output port arrangement solution of an optical fiber array of the WSS includes: centers of output ports are arranged along a curve or along a combination line that includes a line segment, and a straight line connecting centers of any two output ports on the curve or the combination line does not pass through an input port. A light beam received from the input port is diffracted to the output ports through an LCoS panel, and a straight line that all diffraction orders that are generated after the diffraction pass through intersects with the curve or the line segment, and there is only one intersection point.

An optical switch device includes a first semiconductor structure configured to operate as a first waveguide and a second semiconductor structure configured to operate as a second waveguide. The second semiconductor structure is located above or below the first semiconductor structure and separated from the first semiconductor structure. The second semiconductor structure includes a first portion having a first width and a second portion having a width different from the first width and located on the first portion. The first portion is located between a first doped region and a second doped region.

Described herein is a system for directing light over two dimensions. In a first embodiment, an optical beam director includes a wavelength router, such as an optical interleaver, optically coupled to an array of dispersive elements, such as free-space diffractive couplers. In a second embodiment, an optical beam director includes a diffractive element optically coupled to a 1D-to-2D spatial interleaver.

A structure including a plurality of laser discharge structures located on a planar lightwave circuit, and a single laser source connected to each of the plurality of laser discharge structures by one or more Mach Zehnder switches and a plurality of optical connections.

An optical switch device includes a first semiconductor structure configured to operate as a first waveguide and a second semiconductor structure configured to operate as a second waveguide. The second semiconductor structure is located above or below the first semiconductor structure and separated from the first semiconductor structure. The second semiconductor structure includes a first portion having a first width and a second portion having a width different from the first width and located on the first portion. The first portion is located between a first doped region and a second doped region.

A device (e.g., a photonic multiplexer) is provided that includes a plurality of first switches. Each first switch in the plurality of first switches includes a plurality of first channels. Each first switch is configured to shift photons in the plurality of first channels by zero or more channels, based on first configuration information provided to the first switch. The device further includes a plurality of second switches. Each second switch includes a plurality of second channels. Each second channel is coupled with a respective first channel from a distinct first switch of the plurality of first switches. Each second switch is configured to shift photons in the plurality of second channels by zero or more channels, based on second configuration information provided to the second switch.

An all-solid state optical transmit/receive terminal includes binary optical switches to steer an optical beam, without mechanical components, phased array of emitters/collectors or large number of phase shifters. A lens optically couples a surface array of emitters/collectors to free space, giving each emitter/collector a respective direction in free space. The emitters/collectors are also coupled, via an H-tree or other branched optical waveguide network, to a common input/output port, and from there to a receiver and/or transmitter. The binary optical switches are disposed at optical junctions of the optical waveguide network. ON switches pass an optical signal through the optical waveguide network, between the common input/output port and one or more selected emitter/collectors, thereby selecting a free space direction(s). Only a relatively small subset of the binary optical switches needs to be ON, therefore powered, simultaneously at any given time.

A microwave waveguide switch that can route electromagnetic radiation by switching one or more first waveguides into one or more second waveguides. The device utilizes a stacked moveable routing component comprising multiple different routing configurations in a single stack. An external actuator moves the stack in such a way as to align different ports with different signal waveguides thereby achieving different routing states.

A steerable optical transmit and receive terminal includes a MEMS-based N1 optical switch network. Each optical switch in the optical switch network uses an electrostatic MEMS structure to selectively position a translatable optical grating close to or far from an optical waveguide. In the close (ON) position, light couples between the translatable optical grating and the optical waveguide, whereas in the far (OFF) position, no appreciable light couples between the translatable optical grating and the optical waveguide. The translatable optical grating is disposed at or near a surface of the optical switch network. Thus, the translatable optical grating emits light into, or receives light from, free space. The steerable optical transmit and receive terminal also includes a lens and can steer a free space optical beam in a direction determined by which port of the N1 optical switch network is ON.