A remote indicator system comprising a housing and a display unit located remotely from the housing. The housing comprises a first light source and a first end of an end-emitting fibre optic cable. The display unit comprises a second end of the fibre optic cable. The housing includes manual switching means configurable to allow light from the first light source to pass into the first end of the optical fibre cable and further configurable to prevent light from the first light source from passing into the first end of the optical fibre cable.

An optical assembly includes a light source for providing a beam of light, a lens system configured to expand and collimate the beam of light, and a configurable beam injector, wherein the beam injector contains a first grid plate and a second grid plate to block individual beams of light. The first grid plate and the second grid plate may be configured such that each grid plate respectively corresponds to particular MEMS mirrors. The grid plates can be configured to have pathways that allow for beams of light to be passed through and other pathways which are blocked to prevent the passage of light. The first grid plate and second grid plate may thus block or allow for transmission of beams of lights to those particular MEMS mirrors. The second grid plate can be configured to be easily swappable during or removable to allow for a different set of beams of light, corresponding to a different set of MEMS mirrors, to be blocked. The second grid plate can be configured to be rotated or slid linearly within a housing.

A bundled optical fiber probe according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a forward irradiation unit including a forward irradiation optical fiber disposed at the center thereof, the forward irradiation optical fiber having a flat end surface; and a side irradiation unit including a side irradiation optical fiber disposed at the periphery of the forward irradiation unit, the side irradiation optical fiber having an inclined end surface to laterally reflect a laser beam, wherein the forward irradiation unit and the side irradiation unit can be formed as a single bundle.

The present invention makes it possible to inhibit decrease in optical performance due to a foreign object, while securing a space necessary for wire bonding. A cover (3) is configured such that a distance (z2) between an optical device (1) and a sub-cover member (32) becomes greater than a distance (z1) between the optical device (1) and a cover glass (31).

A fast optical switch can be fabricated/constructed, when vanadium dioxide (VO.sub.2) ultra thin-film or a cluster of vanadium dioxide particles (less than 0.5 microns in diameter) embedded in an ultra thin-film of a polymeric material or in a mesh of metal nanowires is activated by either an electrical pulse (a voltage pulse or a current pulse) or a light pulse just to induce rapid insulator-to-metal phase transition (IMT) in vanadium dioxide ultra thin-film or vanadium dioxide particles embedded in an ultra thin-film of a polymeric material or in a mesh of metal nanowires. The applications of such a fast optical switch for an on-Demand optical add-drop subsystem, integrating with or without a wavelength converter are also described.

A projection system includes a projection lens to project image light along an image light path towards a port window and to redirect a portion of the image light away from the image light path as result of being scattered or reflected away from the image light path. The projection system includes a port window for transmitting projected image light from the projection lens. The port window has a surface for redirecting a portion of the projected image light as result of being scattered or reflected away from the image light path. The projection system includes an enclosure positioned between the port window and the projection lens to surround the image light path between the port window and the projection lens. The enclosure absorbs the portion of the image light redirected by the projection lens and absorbs the portion of the projected image light redirected by the surface.

An optical assembly includes a light source for providing a beam of light, a lens system configured to expand and collimate the beam of light, and a configurable beam injector, wherein the beam injector contains a first grid plate and a second grid plate to block individual beams of light. The first grid plate and the second grid plate may be configured such that each grid plate respectively corresponds to particular MEMS mirrors. The grid plates can be configured to have pathways that allow for beams of light to be passed through and other pathways which are blocked to prevent the passage of light. The first grid plate and second grid plate may thus block or allow for transmission of beams of lights to those particular MEMS mirrors. The second grid plate can be configured to be easily swappable during or removable to allow for a different set of beams of light, corresponding to a different set of MEMS mirrors, to be blocked. The second grid plate can be configured to be rotated or slid linearly within a housing.

A fiber optic connector may include a body, at least one input coupling configured to receive at least one fiber optic input cable, at least one output coupling configured to receive at least one fiber optic output cable, and at least one shuttle. The shuttle may be movable within the body between a connected position and a disconnected position, wherein the at least one fiber optic input cable and the at least one fiber optic output cable are optically connected when the at least one shuttle is in the connected position, and wherein the at least one fiber optic input cable and the at least one fiber optic output cable are not optically connected when the at least one shuttle is in the disconnected position.

A fiber-optic switching system is provided which includes an optical fiber switch having first and second optical fiber portions and an electrically-controlled actuator. The first and second optical fiber portions are spaced apart with a gap between the portions that is sized to allow for light signal coupling between the optical fiber portions in a signal-passing state of the switch. The electrically-controlled actuator is coupled to transition the switch between the signal-passing state, where the light signal is allowed to pass between the optical fiber portions, and a signal-non-passing state, where the light signal is prevented from passing between the optical fiber portions. The electrically-controlled actuator includes an electroactive material exhibiting a physical change with change in an applied electrical field, where the physical change facilitates transitioning the optical fiber switch between the signal-passing and the signal-non-passing states.

A light shuttering device comprises a plurality of liquid crystal cells, wherein each liquid crystal cell is operable in a first optical state or a second optical state in response to a respective first or second drive signal. A drive circuit comprises a plurality of switches and a drive controller. Each switch is arranged to output the respective first or second drive signal to a respective liquid crystal cell. The drive controller is arranged to sequentially update the output of each switch during an update cycle. The drive circuit is arranged to determine the order in which the switches are sequentially updated during an update cycle based on any changes to the respective drive signals that will be made during the update.