An undersea fiber optic cable routing architecture including a branching unit coupled to three trunk cables capable of switching individual fibers in each fiber pair within a cable to either of the other two cables. The branching unit comprises a plurality of optical switches and a controller for receiving remote command signals and configuring the optical switches in accordance with the remote command signals.

An optical routing system for free space optical communication is disclosed. The system has a transmitter and a receiver that use free space optical communication, and includes an optical path based on waveguide where an optical signal is routed from the proximity of the transmitter to the proximity of the destination. This system has advantages in terms of mitigating line-of-sight issues, as well as potentially reducing the overall coupling loss that would be otherwise incurred due to beam divergence of free space propagation for long distance.

The present invention provides an apparatus for facilitating a photovoltaic device to provide a wireless communication channel. The apparatus comprises a switch connected in parallel with the photovoltaic device and configured for driving the photovoltaic device to produce optical signals carrying sensed data to be transmitted; and a control module connected with the switch and configured for receiving electrical sensing signals and generate a control signal to control the switch. The apparatus provided by the present invention is extremely durable. Compared to existing communication technologies which require extra hardware, the apparatus provided by the present invention is simpler and can be integrated into a single component.

Methods and systems are described for emission and/or sensing of optical signals. An example method may comprise supplying an optical signal an optical signal to a first waveguide extending in a first direction and supplying, based on controlling at least one of a first plurality of optical elements, the optical signal to at least one of a plurality of second waveguides extending in a second direction different from the first direction. The method may comprise supplying, based on controlling at least one of a second plurality of optical elements, the optical signal to at least one emitter. Each of the second plurality of optical elements may be separately selectable to control a corresponding emitter. The method may comprise causing, via the at least one emitter, emission of one or more optical signals.

One embodiment described herein provides a co-packaged optics (CPO) switch assembly. The CPO switch assembly includes a switch integrated circuit (IC) chip and a number of optical modules coupled to the switch IC chip. The switch IC chip and the optical modules are co-packaged within a same physical enclosure. The switch IC chip includes a switch logic and a digital signal processing (DSP) unit, and a respective optical module comprises: a photonic integrated chip (PIC), a first amplifier module, and a second amplifier module.

An active mode image sensor for optical non-uniformity correction (NUC) of an active mode sensor uses a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) Micro-Mirror Array (MMA) having tilt, tip and piston mirror actuation to form and scan a laser spot that simultaneously performs the NUC and illuminates the scene so that the laser illumination is inversely proportional to the response of the imager at the scan position. The MEMS MMA also supports forming and scanning multiple laser spots to simultaneously interrogate the scene at the same or different wavelengths. The piston function can also be used to provide wavefront correction. The MEMS MMA may be configured to generate a plurality of fixed laser spots to perform an instantaneous NUC.

An optical routing system for free space optical communication is disclosed. The system has a transmitter and a receiver that use free space optical communication, and includes an optical path based on waveguide where an optical signal is routed from the proximity of the transmitter to the proximity of the destination. This system has advantages in terms of mitigating line-of-sight issues, as well as potentially reducing the overall coupling loss that would be otherwise incurred due to beam divergence of free space propagation for long distance.

A high-performance optical and electronic integrated switch capable of effectively extending the transmission distance includes a network processor that controls the functions of the packet switch, a plurality of optical transceivers provided near the processor and having a photoelectric conversion function, and an optical relay switch. A plurality of optical waveguides are connected to the input and output sides of the optical relay switch. Each optical transceiver has a regeneration function that performs optical-electrical conversion on inputted optical signals, then turns back the converted signals, and performs signal conversion on them, and its input side is connected with a routing optical waveguide included in the optical waveguides on the output side of the switch and its output side is connected with a routing optical waveguide included in the optical waveguides on the input side of the switch. The optical waveguides include ones for connecting to an external communication counterpart.

A communication network includes a first serving area, a second serving area, a network hub, one or more trunk optical cables, and a first bridging connection. The first serving area includes a first optical switch, a first optical node, and one or more first intra-serving-area (ISA) optical cables communicatively coupling the first optical node to the first optical switch. The second serving area includes a second optical switch, a second optical node, and one or more second ISA optical cables communicatively coupling the second optical node to the second optical switch. The one or more trunk optical cables communicatively couple the first and second optical nodes to the network hub, and the first bridging connection communicatively couples the one or more first ISA optical cables and the one or more second ISA optical cables.

A method of wavelength selection and a communication apparatus is applied to fields such as optical communication, optical switching, digital central networks, microwave photonics, liquid crystal antennas, optical phased arrays, beam forming, beam scanning, laser radars, laser projection, laser televisions, holographic display, adaptive optics, laser beam shaping, laser processing, ultrafast laser pulse shaping, laser active imaging, optical tomography scanning, and retinal imaging. When port switching occurs in a WSS apparatus, only image data of a changed local image of an LCoS image is updated within each time interval that is shorter than duration of one image frame, and a driving voltage for a pixel on the LCoS display screen is refreshed based on a priority.