A laser beam apparatus can include a set of pulsed lasers (e.g. solid state fiber lasers), a controllable beam deflector, and an electric power supply and controller connected to the beam deflector. The laser pulses from the different pulsed lasers can be configured to hit the beam deflector at different angles and different times. The electric power supply and controller can be configured to control and synchronize the timing and angle at which the different lasers pulses hit the beam deflector with an adjustment of the deflection property of the beam deflector so that the laser pulses from different input directions propagate in the same direction after passing through the beam deflector. The laser pulses from the lasers can be combined together via this control and synchronization.

Circuits and methods that implement multiplexing for photons propagating in waveguides are disclosed, in which an input photon received on a selected one of a set of input waveguides can be selectably routed to one of a set of output waveguides. The output waveguide can be selected on a rotating or cyclic basis, in a fixed order, and the input waveguide can be selected based at least in part on which one(s) of a set of input waveguides is (are) currently propagating a photon.

Embodiments disclosed herein include electronic packages for optical to electrical switching. In an embodiment, an electronic package comprises a first package substrate and a second package substrate attached to the first package substrate. In an embodiment, a die is attached to the second package substrate. In an embodiment, a plurality of photonics engines are attached to a first surface and a second surface of the first package substrate. In an embodiment, the plurality of photonics engines are communicatively coupled to the die through the first package substrate and the second package substrate.

Described herein is a calibration system (25) for a wavelength selective switch (1). The switch (1) is adapted for dynamically switching optical beams (5, 7) along respective trajectories between input and output ports disposed in an array (3) using a reconfigurable Liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) spatial light modulator device (17). The calibration system (25) includes a monitor (27) for projecting an optical monitor beam (29) through at least a portion of the switch (1) onto the LCOS (17) and detecting the monitor beam (29) reflected from the LCOS (17). In response, system (25) provides a calibration signal (33) to an active correction unit (35) for applying a correction to one or more of the trajectories while maintaining a constant switching state in the LCOS (17).

Systems and methods are provided for flexible wavelength assignments in a communication network. An optical adapter is provided for the systems and methods. The optical adapter has a first interface connected to an optical switch via a first optical cable, a second interface connected to a plurality of server ports via a plurality of second optical cables, and a controller coupled to a switch controller of the optical switch. The controller is configured to perform: obtaining instructions from the switch controller; and assigning, based on the instructions, one or more wavelengths for a time slot to one of the server ports, wherein the controller performs the assigning without direct communication with the server ports.

Data center interconnections, which encompass WSCs as well as traditional data centers, have become both a bottleneck and a cost/power issue for cloud computing providers, cloud service providers and the users of the cloud generally. Fiber optic technologies already play critical roles in data center operations and will increasingly in the future. The goal is to move data as fast as possible with the lowest latency with the lowest cost and the smallest space consumption on the server blade and throughout the network. Accordingly, it would be beneficial for new fiber optic interconnection architectures to address the traditional hierarchal time-division multiplexed (TDM) routing and interconnection and provide reduced latency, increased flexibility, lower cost, lower power consumption, and provide interconnections exploiting scalable optical modular optically switched interconnection network as well as temporospatial switching fabrics allowing switching speeds below the slowest switching element within the switching fabric.

There is provided methods and apparatuses for transferring photonic cells or frames between a photonic switch and an electronic switch enabling a scalable data center cloud system with photonic functions transparently embedded into an electronic chassis. In various embodiments, photonic interface functions may be transparently embedded into existing switch chips (or switch cards) without changes in the line cards. The embedded photonic interface functions may provide the switch cards with the ability to interface with both existing line cards and photonic switches. In order to embed photonic interface functions without changes on the existing line cards, embodiments use two-tier buffering with a pause signalling or pause messaging scheme for managing the two-tier buffer memories.

Embodiments disclosed herein include electronic packages for optical to electrical switching. In an embodiment, an electronic package comprises a first package substrate and a second package substrate attached to the first package substrate. In an embodiment, a die is attached to the second package substrate. In an embodiment, a plurality of photonics engines are attached to a first surface and a second surface of the first package substrate. In an embodiment, the plurality of photonics engines are communicatively coupled to the die through the first package substrate and the second package substrate.

Circuits and methods that implement multiplexing for photons propagating in waveguides are disclosed, in which an input photon received on a selected one of a set of input waveguides can be selectably routed to one of a set of output waveguides. The output waveguide can be selected on a rotating or cyclic basis, in a fixed order, and the input waveguide can be selected based at least in part on which one(s) of a set of input waveguides is (are) currently propagating a photon.

An optical network includes top networking ports coupled to a packet switch, first media converters, second media converters, and bottom networking ports. The first media converters are coupled to top networking ports, each of the first media converters including a first ASIC transceiver that has a circuit switch function. The second media converters are coupled to the first media converter via optical cables to receive the optical signals. Each of the second media converters includes a second ASIC transceiver that has a circuit switch function. The bottom networking ports are coupled to the second media converters. The first ASIC transceiver and the second ASIC transceiver are configured to transmit a signal from one of the top networking ports to any one of the bottom networking ports, and transmit a signal from one of the bottom networking ports to any one of the top networking ports.