A device includes a plurality of photon sources coupled to a plurality of output terminals. The plurality of photon sources are coupled together, by a first switch layer, into a plurality of photon source groups. The first switch layer comprises a plurality of switches. The device further includes a second switch layer coupled to output terminals of the first switch layer. The second switch layer includes a plurality of second layer n-by-n switches and a plurality of second layer l-by-l switches, wherein l is less than n. At least two output terminals from two respective photon sources residing within a first photon source group of the plurality of photon source groups and a second photon source group of the plurality of photon source groups are coupled directly to respective output terminals of the device without being coupled to any intervening second switch from the second switch layer.

A multicast exchange optical switch includes an input port device including M input ports, an output port device including N output ports, a diffractive beam splitter, an optical focusing component, and a 1×N array of reflective devices. The diffractive beam splitter diffracts each input signal beam from the input ports into at least N directions. The optical focusing component includes a first focusing lens and a second focusing lens. The first focusing lens focuses sub-beams from the respective input ports along the Y-axis direction having the same diffraction order. The second focusing lens focuses on the X-axis direction sub-beams from the same input port having different diffraction orders. The 1×N array of reflective devices is provided at the focal plane of the optical focusing component and each reflective device reflects a sub-beam from any one of the input ports to any one of the output ports.

An optical path system includes a first block that further includes multiple first fiber optic guides, arranged in a first configuration to receive multiple first optical fibers, with one fiber in each guide. The optical path system further includes a second block comprising multiple second fiber optic guides, arranged in a second configuration to receive multiple second optical fibers, with one fiber in each guide, wherein a first face of the second block abuts a first face of the first block and wherein the first block is movable relative to the second block. The optical path system also includes micro-position adjusting mechanisms configured to move the first block relative to the second block to align the multiple first optical fibers with the multiple second optical fibers.

An apparatus for providing multicore fiber (OCF) optical switching is disclosed. The apparatus may include an input fiber to receive an optical signal from an optical source. The apparatus may also include an output fiber to receive the optical signal from the input fiber. The apparatus may further include an optical switch element to provide optical switching between the input fiber and the output fiber. In some examples, at least one of the input fiber and the output fiber may be a multicore fiber (MCF), and the optical switching may be performed between at least one core of the input fiber and the output fiber. In some examples, the optical switch element may provide optical switching using a multicore fiber (MCF) optical switching technique, such as a lens offset technique, a rotation-based technique, a tip-tilt technique, or an orientable optical element technique.

Optical inputs to photonic switches may incorporate a polarization controller in order to change the polarization of the input signal to a pre-determined polarization for operation with the silicon photonics. A last stage of components of the polarization controller may overlap with a first input switching stage. A polarization controller that overlaps with the first stage of the switch input may provide lower insertion loss and power consumption for the photonic switch.

A MEMS optical switch and a switching node are disclosed. The MEMS optical switch includes N.sub.1 input ports, N.sub.1 input MEMS mirrors, M.sub.1 output ports, and M.sub.1 output MEMS mirrors, where a first input port is configured to transmit a first optical signal to a first input MEMS mirror. The first input MEMS mirror is configured to reflect the first optical signal to a first destination output MEMS mirror, where along a straight line in which a first deflection axis is located, the first input MEMS mirror is located on an edge of the N.sub.1 input MEMS mirrors, and when reflecting the received first optical signal to a first output MEMS mirror and a second output MEMS mirror, the first input MEMS mirror deflects towards an opposite direction relative to a second deflection axis.

An ultra-broadband silicon waveguide micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) photonic switch is provided, which is mainly composed of three parts: input waveguides, a waveguide crossing with a nano-gap, and output waveguides. The waveguide crossing is composed of two identical orthogonal elliptical cylinders. Four ports of the waveguide crossing respectively extend to form single-mode strip waveguides to serve as input/output waveguides. The center of the waveguide crossing is fully etched with a nano-gap. The two symmetrical port waveguides are fully etched with nano-grooves. The lower cladding near the waveguide crossing and the nano-grooves is penetrated and etched. The width of the nano-gap is adjusted through adjusting a voltage applied across both ends of the waveguide crossing, so that a guided-mode directly passes through or is totally reflected. In the disclosure, a propagation path of the photonic switch is switched through adjusting the voltage applied to the waveguide crossing.

An optical system capable of routing primary and secondary high power lasers through a blocking switch is described.

A bidirectional data communications cable is disclosed. The cable includes first connector, second connector, and cable housing coupled to the first and second connectors. The first connector includes a controller configured to determine whether the first connector is connected to a data source or data sink. If connected to a data source, the controller configures a switch circuit to route a data signal from the data source to an optical modulator for modulating an optical signal for transmission from the first to the second connector via an optical fiber. If connected to a data sink, the controller configures the switch circuit to route a data signal from an optical demodulator to the data sink, the optical demodulator receiving an optical signal modulated with the data signal from the second connector via an optical fiber. The second connector is configured similar to the first connector. The cable housing encloses the optical fibers.

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.