To provide an optical signal processing device that can collect light from an input waveguide to form a beam array having a small diameter. The optical signal processing device includes input waveguides 302a to 302c, an array waveguide 305 and a slab waveguide 304 that is connected to a first arc 304a having the single point C as a center and input waveguides 302a to 302c and that is connected to a second arc 404b having the single point C as a center and an array waveguide 305.

A wavelength selective switch includes: N input ports, an input-side fiber array, an input-side collimator array, an input-side beam deformation and polarization conversion component, an input-side wave-demultiplexing component, an input-side switching engine, a focusing transformation lens group, an output-side switching engine, an output-side wave-combining component, an output-side beam deformation and polarization conversion component, an output-side collimator array, an output-side fiber array, and M output ports. The focusing transformation lens group includes two identical aspheric convex lenses that are placed in parallel, where a curvature from a center to an edge of a surface of the aspheric convex lens changes continuously. A spatial position of the focusing transformation lens group and the curvature from the center to the edge of the surface are so set that light with different wavelengths from the input-side switching engine is focused to a corresponding position of the output-side switching engine respectively.

An optical device includes: wavelength selection elements; an optical switch that switches a propagation path of input light that is from an input port such that the input light propagates to one designated wavelength selection element among the wavelength selection elements; and a separation element disposed in the propagation path of the input light between the input port and the wavelength selection elements and that separates the input light into wavelength components.

Waveguide shuffle blocks (WSBs) are provided that may incorporate waveguides routed in any pattern to effectuate many-to-many connectivity between optical cables/fibers or other WSBs connected thereto. Such WSBs may be configured in ways that allow the WSBs to be stacked and to achieve effective optical cable/fiber organization. Moreover, such WSBs may include readable tags that can provide information regarding a particular WSB configuration and/or what optical cables/fibers are connected so that network topology can be discovered and monitored. Some WSBs may be configured as wavelength shifting shuffles (WSSs) that allow a particular wavelength(s) of an optical signal(s) to be routed as desired and/or alter a first wavelength associated with a particular optical signal to a second wavelength. In other embodiments WSSs can be configured to allow for wavelength multiplexing/demultiplexing.

Disclosed is an invention related to a wavelength selective switch for multiple units. The wavelength selective switch for multiple units according to the present invention comprises: multiple input/output port groups comprising multiple input/output port arrays for transmitting multiple light beams comprising multiple wavelength channels, respectively; a switching lens portion configured such that light beams output from respective input/output ports intersect on a switching axis; a first prism portion arranged between the multiple input/output port arrays and the switching lens portion and configured such that respective light beams groups output from the multiple input/output port arrays refract at different angles on the switching axis; a second prism portion arranged after the switching lens portion and configured such that a center line of a light beam group output from the switching lens portion is arranged in parallel with an optical axis; a light expansion portion for expanding the beam size of a light beam output from the second prism portion in a dispersion axis direction; a light splitting portion for splitting the light beam, the beam size of which has been expanded by the light expansion portion, at a different angle on the dispersion axis according to the wavelength component; an image lens portion for readjusting and focusing wavelengths split by the light splitting portion; and a switching portion comprising divided surfaces corresponding to the multiple input/output port groups, the switching portion being configured to change the angle of a selected wavelength on the switching axis such that a wavelength channels of an input port selected independently with regard to each group is transmitted to an output port selected independently.

Examples include an optical device for redirecting optical signals. The optical device includes a plurality of input ports, a plurality of optical blocks such that at least one optical block of the plurality of optical blocks aligned to each input port of the plurality of input ports, and a plurality of output ports. The plurality of input ports may direct a plurality of optical signals of selective wavelengths to a first direction. Each of the optical blocks may be movable to a plurality of positions to selectively redirect the respective optical signal of the plurality of signals from the first direction to a second direction to one or more output ports of the plurality of output ports that may receive the one or more optical signals redirected to the second direction.

A wavelength switching apparatus includes M input components, a first optical component, a first switch array, a second switch array, a second optical component, and K output components. The M input components include at least one local input component having N input ports, and a light beam input by the local input component can be converged, under an action of the first optical component, on a row of switch units that are in the first switch array and that are corresponding to the local input component. In this way, this is equivalent to further connecting an N*1-dimensional WSS to an input end of an M*K-dimensional WSS, so that the wavelength switching apparatus can integrate a wavelength adding function based on the M*K-dimensional WSS.

An optical system includes an optical waveguide, and a first optical element configured to direct a first ray, having a first circular polarization and impinging on the first optical element at a first incidence angle, in a first direction so that the first ray propagates through the optical waveguide via total internal reflection toward a second optical element. The first optical element is configured to also direct a second ray, having a second circular polarization that is distinct from the first circular polarization and impinging on the first optical element at the first incidence angle, in a second direction that is distinct from the first direction so that the second ray propagates away from the second optical element. The second optical element is configured to direct the first ray propagating through the optical waveguide toward a detector.

An optical waveguide apparatus including a first dispersion unit and a separation unit. The first dispersion unit is connected to the separation unit, the first dispersion unit is configured to disperse a frequency component of at least one first optical signal, and the separation unit is configured to separate, into at least one second optical signal based on configuration information, the frequency component that is of the at least one first optical signal and that is dispersed by the first dispersion unit. The separation unit is implemented by a variable optical waveguide, and the variable optical waveguide is an optical waveguide that implements at least one of the following functions based on the configuration information: forming an optical waveguide, eliminating an optical waveguide, and changing a shape of an optical waveguide.

A fast optical (with or without a photonic crystal) switch is fabricated/constructed, utilizing a phase transition material/Mott insulator, activated by either an electrical pulse (a voltage pulse or a current pulse) and/or a light pulse and/or pulses in terahertz (THz) frequency of a suitable field strength and/or hot electrons. The applications of such a fast optical switch for an on-demand optical add-drop subsystem, integrating with (a) a light slowing/light stopping component (based on metamaterials and/or nanoplasmonic structures) and (b) with or without a wavelength converter are also described.