The optical switch 10 comprises a first waveguide 11, a second waveguide 12, and an exchanger 13. The first waveguide 11 comprises a first end E1 and a second end E2. The second waveguide 12 comprises a third end E3 and a fourth end E4, respectively located on the first end E1 side and the second end E2 side as viewed from the center of the first waveguide 11. The exchanger 13 comprises: a first waveguide section 21 configuring a directional coupler together with the first waveguide 11 and including a phase changing material 23; and a second waveguide section 22 configuring a directional coupler together with the second waveguide 12 and including a phase change material 24. The exchanger 13 inputs electromagnetic waves, input from the first end E1 and output from the first waveguide section 21, to the third end E3 side of the second waveguide section 22. The exchanger 13 inputs electromagnetic waves, input from the third end E3 and output from the second waveguide section 22, to the second end E2 side of the first waveguide section 21.

In an optical switch array on which optical switches that require individual electric wires are integrated, the present invention provides an optical switch array and a multi-cast switch in which the electric wires are shortened by optimizing the arrangement of the optical circuit portion. In the optical switch array in which three arrays of 1×4 switch circuits are disposed in parallel, the position where each optical switch is disposed is sequentially shifted by Dy in the y axis direction. That is, in the case where an adjacent 1×4 optical switch circuit exists on both sides, the 1×4 optical switch located there between is located at the center of the two 1×4 optical switch circuits, which are adjacent in the y axis direction. Each of the three 1×4 optical switch circuits that are arrayed are disposed at a position shifted from the adjacent 1×4 optical switch circuit by Dy in the y axis direction, in accordance with the positional coordinate in the x axis direction, and the electric wires at the ground side are shared such that each optical switch circuit is located sequentially shifted by Dy in the −y axis 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 switch includes a substrate with a waveguide-coupling area and a fluid channel with an anti-wetting layer on a first surface. First and second fluids are on the anti-wetting layer in the fluid channel and at least one fluid is selectively movable relative to the waveguide-fluid coupling area. A fluidic driving mechanism has at least one electrode positioned to apply an electric field to at least one of the fluids in the fluid channel and is capable of moving at least one of the fluids in the fluid channel. The anti-wetting layer has an alkyl silane coating, which includes alkyl silane molecules covalently bonded to the first surface of the fluid channel.

A large-scale single-photonics-based optical switching system that occupies an area larger than the maximum area of a standard step-and-repeat lithography reticle is disclosed. The system includes a plurality of identical switch blocks, each of is formed in a different reticle field that no larger than the maximum reticle size. Bus waveguides of laterally adjacent switch blocks are stitched together at lateral interfaces that include a second arrangement of waveguide ports that is common to all lateral interfaces. Bus waveguides of vertically adjacent switch blocks are stitched together at vertical interfaces that include a first arrangement of waveguide ports that is common to all vertical interfaces. In some embodiments, the lateral and vertical interfaces include waveguide ports having waveguide coupling regions that are configured to mitigate optical loss due to stitching error.

A core selective switch in an optical node device included in a spatial channel optical network includes a spatial demultiplexing unit, an optical switch, and an optical interconnect unit, wherein the spatial demultiplexing unit is an MCF collimator array in which a plurality of MCF collimators each comprising both an MCF having S cores and a collimator lens are two-dimensionally arranged in a plane, the optical switch is a variable reflection angle mirror array in which S variable reflection angle mirrors are two-dimensionally arranged in a plane in a manner similar to a core arrangement in the MCF, the optical interconnect unit is a steering lens, and a beam light output from each core of an input MCF is focused on a variable reflection angle mirror corresponding to the core to be reflected to couple to a corresponding core of a desired output MCF.

Described are various configurations of reduced crosstalk optical switches. Various embodiments can reduce or entirely eliminate crosstalk using a coupler that has a power-splitting ratio that compensates for amplitude imbalance caused by phase modulator attenuation. Some embodiments implement a plurality of phase modulators and couplers as part of a dilated switch network to increase overall bandwidth and further reduce potential for crosstalk.

The invention relates to the fabrication of optical switches in transparent substrates. The method includes exposing part of the substrate to a stream of femtosecond laser pulses to form an exposed volume which can later be etched to form a channel used for microfluidic control of the switch. This process is referred to as femtosecond laser induced chemical etching (FLICE). The waveguides of the optical switch are also written in the substrate by using femtosecond laser inscription (FLI), which can be performed in the same operation as the exposure step in the FLICE formation of the channel, thus ensuring alignment between the waveguides and the channel.

An optical switch includes a substrate with a waveguide-coupling area and a fluid channel with an anti-wetting layer on a first surface. First and second fluids are on the anti-wetting layer in the fluid channel and at least one fluid is selectively movable relative to the waveguide-fluid coupling area. A fluidic driving mechanism has at least one electrode positioned to apply an electric field to at least one of the fluids in the fluid channel and is capable of moving at least one of the fluids in the fluid channel. The anti-wetting layer has an alkyl silane coating, which includes alkyl silane molecules covalently bonded to the first surface of the fluid channel.

An M×N wavelength selective switch (WSS), may comprise a common port fiber array unit (FAU) configured to emit optical beams with a lateral offset and a beam steering device configured to direct optical beams with an angular offset to add/drop port optical fibers of an add/drop port FAU. The common port FAU may comprise a first set of common port optical fibers arranged in a first column of the common port FAU and a second set of common port optical fibers arranged in a second column of the common port FAU. The second column of the common port FAU may be laterally offset from the first column of the common port FAU. The beam steering device may be configured to selectively direct, in two dimensions, the optical beams with the angular offset to the add/drop port optical fibers.