An all-optical network comprises: a first network; a second network; and a PWXC coupling the first network to the second network and comprising passive optical components. A method comprises: receiving a first optical signal from a first tail node of a first network; directing the first optical signal from a first input port of a PWXC to a first output port of the PWXC using first passive optical components; and transmitting the first optical signal to a third head node of a third network. An all-optical network comprising: a light bank; a first network coupled to the light bank; a second network coupled to the light bank; and a first PWXC coupling the first network and the second network.

An intelligent subsystem includes/couples a radio transceiver, a voice processing module/voice processing algorithm and an intelligent learning algorithm. The intelligent subsystem can respond to a user's interests and/or preferences. Furthermore, the intelligent subsystem is sensor-aware or context-aware.

Various methods, systems, and apparatuses, for optical switching are provided. For example, one wavelength selective switch (WSS) includes a plurality of optical ports wherein one or more optical ports are configured to receive one or more input optical beams the one or more input optical beams having a plurality of wavelength channels and wherein one or more of the optical ports are configured to receive one or more wavelength channels of the plurality of wavelength channels for output. The WSS also includes a polarization conditioning assembly, a polarization beam splitter assembly, a direction dependent polarization rotator, a polarization beam splitter, a grating, and a polarization modulator array having a plurality of polarizing modulation cells, each cell configured to independently change a polarization orientation of an optical beam passing through the cell.

In the examples provided herein, a system has a plurality of arrayed waveguide gratings (AWG) having a plurality of input ports and a plurality of output ports. A signal within a given wavelength channel transmitted to one of the input ports of a given AWG is routed to one of the output ports of the given AWG based on a signal wavelength. The system also has a plurality of nodes, with each node comprising a set of components for each AWG that the node is coupled to. Each set of components comprises a plurality of optical transmitters, where each optical transmitter is tunable over multiple wavelength channels within a different wavelength band; a band multiplexer to multiplex the multiple wavelength channels within each different wavelength band; and a first output fiber to couple an output of the band multiplexer to one of the input ports of a first AWG.

An intelligent subsystem includes/couples with a system-on-chip (comprising a microprocessor/graphic processor), a radio transceiver, a voice processing module/voice processing algorithm, a foldable/stretchable display, a near-field communication device, a biometric sensor and an intelligent learning algorithm. The intelligent subsystem can respond to a user's interests and/or preferences. Furthermore, the intelligent subsystem is sensor-aware or context-aware.

An intelligent subsystem includes/couples with a system-on-chip (comprising a microprocessor/graphic processor), a radio transceiver, a voice processing module/voice processing algorithm, a foldable/stretchable display, a near-field communication device, a biometric sensor and an intelligent learning algorithm. The intelligent subsystem can respond to a user's interests and/or preferences. Furthermore, the intelligent subsystem is sensor-aware or context-aware.

Embodiments of the invention describe apparatuses, optical systems, and methods for utilizing a dynamically reconfigurable optical transmitter. A laser array outputs a plurality of laser signals (which may further be modulated based on electrical signals), each of the plurality of laser signals having a wavelength, wherein the wavelength of each of the plurality of laser signals is tunable based on other electrical signals. An optical router receives the plurality of (modulated) laser signals at input ports and outputs the plurality of received (modulated) laser signals to one or more output ports based on the tuned wavelength of each of the plurality of received laser signals. This reconfigurable transmitter enables dynamic bandwidth allocation for multiple destinations via the tuning of the laser wavelengths.

This invention discloses a distributed optical switching and interconnect chip and system having multiple connected nodes, each node including an optical routing unit with one side having multiple internal input/output ports and the other side having multiple external input/output ports, a laser array and a photodetector array, connected to the internal input and output ports, respectively. The external output ports are connected to the external input ports of other nodes through optical waveguides. The signals received by the photodetectors can be dropped to the node or re-routed to the lasers by an electronic packet switching chip for re-transmission to other nodes. The invention integrates and encapsulates laser arrays, photodetector arrays, optical routing units and interconnection network in one chip. The distributed optical switching chip and system architecture have the advantages of high scalability, low latency and low power consumption, and can be used for multi-chip computing systems and datacenters.

An optical circuit switching matrix includes a plurality of optical ports, each optical port being optically coupled to a respective one of a plurality of user nodes and an optical coupler having at least one input port optically coupled to the plurality of optical ports, and an output port. The optical circuit switching matrix also includes a wavelength demultiplexer having an input optically coupled to the output port of the optical coupler, and a plurality of output ports, each output port being optically coupled to a respective one of the plurality of optical ports.

In the examples provided herein, a system has a plurality of arrayed waveguide gratings (AWG) having a plurality of input ports and a plurality of output ports. A signal within a given wavelength channel transmitted to one of the input ports of a given AWG is routed to one of the output ports of the given AWG based on a signal wavelength. The system also has a plurality of nodes, with each node comprising a set of components for each AWG that the node is coupled to. Each set of components comprises a plurality of optical transmitters, where each optical transmitter is tunable over multiple wavelength channels within a different wavelength band; a band multiplexer to multiplex the multiple wavelength channels within each different wavelength band; and a first output fiber to couple an output of the band multiplexer to one of the input ports of a first AWG.