A transmitter can include a laser operable to output an optical signal; a digital signal processor operable to receive user data and provide electrical signals based on the data; and a modulator operable to modulate the optical signal to provide optical subcarriers based on the electrical signals. A first one of the subcarriers carriers carries first TDMA encoded information and second TDMA encoded information, such that the first TDMA encoded information is indicative of a first portion of the data and is carried by the first one of the subcarriers during a first time slot, and the second TDMA encoded information is indicative of a second portion of the data and is carried by the first one of the subcarriers during a second time slot. The first TDMA encoded information is associated with a first node remote from the transmitter and the second TDMA encoded information is associated with a second node remote from the transmitter. A second one of the subcarriers carries third information that is not TDMA encoded, the third information being associated with a third node remote from the transmitter. A receiver and system also are described.

An optical switching unit comprising: a plurality of arrays of multiple optical waveguides; and a switching structure controllable to direct light received from any of the optical waveguides in a first array of the plurality of arrays to one or more optical waveguides of each other array in the plurality of arrays.

A multiport waveguide device is disclosed herein. In an embodiment, a multiport waveguide device includes a first receiving port structure configured to guide a first incoming RF signal, a second receiving port structure configured to guide a second incoming RF signal, a first transmitting port structure configured to guide a first outgoing RF signal, and a second transmitting port structure configured to guide a second outgoing RF signal. The multiport waveguide device also includes common port structure configured to simultaneously guide the first incoming RF signal, the second incoming RF signal, the first outgoing RF signal, and the second outgoing RF signal through a common port.

A photonic node includes a first circuit disposed on a first substrate and a second circuit disposed on a second substrate different from the first substrate. The first circuit is configured to route light signals originated from the photonic node to local nodes of a local group in which the photonic node is a member. The second circuit is configured to route light signals received from a node of an external group in which the photonic node is not a member, to one of the local nodes.

An photonic circuit includes a substrate, a plurality of first light waveguides disposed on the substrate, the first light waveguides extending in a first direction, a plurality of second light waveguides disposed on the substrate and extending in a second direction intersecting the first direction, and a plurality of first micro-ring resonators disposed on the substrate. Each of the first light waveguides has an intersection with each of the second light waveguides. Each of the intersections is provided with a first micro-ring resonator of the first micro-ring resonators. Each first micro-ring resonator is configured to route signals of a respective wavelength from one of the light waveguides at the intersection to another light waveguide at the intersection.

An optically powered switch. An example optically powered switch generally includes a light source configured to output an optical signal. The example optically powered switch generally includes a photodiode configured to convert the optical signal to an electrical signal. The example optically powered switch generally includes a bias and control circuit configured to power at least one radio frequency (RF) switch using the electrical signal.

Aspects of the present disclosure describe large scale steerable optical switched arrays that may be fabricated on a common substrate including many thousands or more emitters that may be arranged in a curved pattern at the focal plane of a lens thereby allowing the directional control of emitted light and selective reception of reflected light suitable for use in imaging, ranging, and sensing applications including accident avoidance.

An input device for a multiple wavelength band optical switch comprising: an optical demultiplexer configured to receive light and disperse the received light along a dispersion axis; and a light director configured to direct light in a first wavelength band to the optical demultiplexer at a first angle of incidence and to direct light in a second wavelength band to the optical demultiplexer at a second angle of incidence, the second angle of incidence being different from the first; wherein the difference between the first and second angles of incidence causes the demultiplexer to output dispersed spectra of light corresponding to the first and second bands such that the dispersed spectrum corresponding to the first band is overlapped along the dispersion axis and separated along a switch axis relative to the dispersed spectrum corresponding to the second wavelength band, the switch axis being perpendicular to the dispersion axis.

A method of nonblocking optical switching includes guiding a first optical beam from a first input to a first output via a first path through an optical switching fabric. The first path traverses a phase shifter disposed between a pair of cascaded Mach-Zehnder interferometers. The method also includes receiving a second optical beam for a second path intersecting with the first path through the optical switching fabric. The method also includes moving the first optical beam from the first path to a third path connecting the first input to the first output without intersecting the second path. The method also includes shifting a phase of the first optical beam, with the phase shifter, while moving the first optical beam from the first path to the third path to prevent the first optical beam from interfering with the second optical beam.

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.