Process margin relaxation is provided in relation to a compensated-for process via a first optical device, fabricated to satisfy an operational specification when a compensated-for process is within a first tolerance range; a second optical device, fabricated to satisfy the operational specification when the compensated-for process is within second tolerance range, different than the first tolerance range; a first optical switch connected to an input and configured to output an optical signal received from the input to one of the first optical device and the second optical device; and a second optical switch configured to combine outputs from the first optical device and the second optical device.

An optical interconnection assembly for a Spine-and-Leaf network is disclosed. The optical interconnection assembly has Spine multi-fiber optical connectors and Leaf multi-fiber optical connectors. The Spine optical connectors of the interconnection assembly are optically connected to multi-fiber connectors of Spine switches via Spine patch cords. The leaf multi-fiber connectors are optically connected to Leaf multi-fiber connectors of Leaf switches via Leaf patch cords. An array of simplex fiber optic cables in said interconnection assembly serve to optically connect every Spine multi-fiber connector to every Leaf multi-fiber connector so that every Spine switch is optically connected to every Leaf switch. The optical interconnection assembly facilitates network Spine-and-Leaf interconnections and the ability to scale-out the network by installing additional assemblies, Leaf switches, and Spine switches.

This patent document provides optical processing and switching of optical channels based on mode-division multiplexing (MDM) and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). In one implementation, a method is provided for processing different optical signal channels to include receiving different input optical signal channels in different optical waveguide modes and in different wavelengths; converting input optical signal channels in multimodes into single-mode optical signal channels, respectively; subsequent to the conversion, processing single-mode optical signal channels obtained from the different input optical signal channels to re-group single-mode optical signal channels into different groups of processed single-mode optical signal channels; and converting different groups of the processed single-mode optical signal channels into different groups of output optical signal channels containing one or more optical signal channels in multimodes multimode signals to direct the groups as different optical outputs.

A switch module includes a switch integrated circuit (IC), an InP chip, and a planar lightwave circuit (PLC). The InP chip may include a plurality of light sources, an optical splitter, and a plurality of modulators.

A wavelength selective switch (WSS) may include a first set of ports, each to launch a respective beam of a first set of beams, wherein the first set of beams is provided to a first position on a focal plane, and wherein a first set of wavelength channel sub-beams, included in a beam of the first set of beams, is to be incident on a particular section of a switching array. The WSS may include a second set of ports, each to launch a respective beam of a second set of beams, wherein the second set of beams is provided to a second position on the focal plane, wherein the second position is different from the first position, and wherein a second set of wavelength channel sub-beams, included in a beam of the second set of beams, is to be incident on the particular section of the switching array.

A wavelength selective switch (WSS) may include a first set of ports, each to launch a respective beam of a first set of beams, wherein the first set of beams is provided to a first position on a focal plane, and wherein a first set of wavelength channel sub-beams, included in a beam of the first set of beams, is to be incident on a particular section of a switching array. The WSS may include a second set of ports, each to launch a respective beam of a second set of beams, wherein the second set of beams is provided to a second position on the focal plane, wherein the second position is different from the first position, and wherein a second set of wavelength channel sub-beams, included in a beam of the second set of beams, is to be incident on the particular section of the switching array.

Photonic data routing in optical networks is expected overcome the limitations of electronic routers with respect to data rate, latency, and energy consumption. However photonics-based routers suffer from dynamic power consumption, and non-simultaneous usage of multiple wavelength channels when microrings are deployed and are sizable in footprint. Here we show a design for the first hybrid photonic-plasmonic, non-blocking, broadband 55 router based on 3-waveguide silicon photonic-plasmonic 22 switches. The compactness of the router (footprint <200 m.sup.2) results in a short optical propagation delay (0.4 ps) enabling high data capacity up to 2 Tbps. The router has an average energy consumption ranging from 0.11.0 fJ/bit depending on either DWDM or CDWM operation, enabled by the low electrical capacitance of the switch. The total average routing insertion loss of 2.5 dB is supported via an optical mode hybridization deployed inside the 22 switches, which minimizes the coupling losses between the photonic and plasmonic sections of the router. The router's spectral bandwidth resides in the S, C and L bands and exceeds 100 nm supporting WDM applications since no resonance feature are required. Moreover, this hybrid photonic-plasmonic switch design is also suitable for 3 up to a few dozens of routing ports by simply cascading our 22 switch with a specific pattern. Taken together this novel optical router combines multiple design features, all required in next generation high data-throughput optical networks and computing systems.

An optical switch and a wavelength division multiplexing optical system are disclosed. In an embodiment an optical switch includes an input port array, an input collimator array, an input micromirror array, an output micromirror array, an output collimator array, and an output port array. All input micromirrors included in the input micromirror array can be deflected in two mutually perpendicular directions. The maximum movable ranges of reflected light that is output after all the input micromirrors reflect incident light with the same incident angle have no common intersection on a plane on which the output micromirror array is located or have a common intersection, and an area of the intersection is less than an area of a reflection region of the output micromirror array.

An optical device may include an outer box. The optical device may include an inner box within the outer box. The optical device may include a heating element on a surface of the inner box. The heating element may include one or more openings. The optical device may include one or more mounting pads. A mounting pad of the one or more mounting pads may be arranged in an opening of the one or more openings and mechanically couple the inner box to the outer box through the opening.

An optical interconnection assembly for a Spine-and-Leaf network is disclosed. The optical interconnection assembly has Spine multi-fiber optical connectors and Leaf multi-fiber optical connectors. The Spine optical connectors of the interconnection assembly are optically connected to multi-fiber connectors of Spine switches via Spine patch cords. The leaf multi-fiber connectors are optically connected to Leaf multi-fiber connectors of Leaf switches via Leaf patch cords. An array of simplex fiber optic cables in said interconnection assembly serve to optically connect every Spine multi-fiber connector to every Leaf multi-fiber connector so that every Spine switch is optically connected to every Leaf switch. The optical interconnection assembly facilitates network Spine-and-Leaf interconnections and the ability to scale-out the network by installing additional assemblies, Leaf switches, and Spine switches.