Waveguide shuffle blocks (WSBs) are provided that may incorporate waveguides routed in any pattern to effectuate many-to-many connectivity between optical cables/fibers or other WSBs connected thereto. Such WSBs may be configured in ways that allow the WSBs to be stacked and to achieve effective optical cable/fiber organization. Moreover, such WSBs may include readable tags that can provide information regarding a particular WSB configuration and/or what optical cables/fibers are connected so that network topology can be discovered and monitored. Some WSBs may be configured as wavelength shifting shuffles (WSSs) that allow a particular wavelength(s) of an optical signal(s) to be routed as desired and/or alter a first wavelength associated with a particular optical signal to a second wavelength. In other embodiments WSSs can be configured to allow for wavelength multiplexing/demultiplexing.

A system for interconnecting a plurality of computing nodes includes a plurality of optical circuit switches and a plurality of electrical circuit switches. A first network stage comprises a first plurality of circuit switches selected from among the plurality of optical circuit switches and the plurality of electrical circuit switches. Each computing node among the plurality of computing nodes is optically coupled to at least one of the first plurality of circuit switches. A second network stage comprises a second plurality of circuit switches selected from among the plurality of optical circuit switches and the plurality of electrical circuit switches. Each circuit switch among the first plurality of circuit switches is optically coupled to each circuit switch among the second plurality of optical circuit switches.

A transmission device, includes a first wavelength converter configured to convert a second wavelength-multiplexed signal in a first wavelength band to a second wavelength band different from the first wavelength band, and a multiplexer configured to transmit, after the conversion, a wavelength-multiplexed signal obtained through multiplexing of a first wavelength-multiplexed signal in the first wavelength band, a first supervisory control signal light ray that is a control signal for the first wavelength-multiplexed signal, the second wavelength-multiplexed signal in the second wavelength band, and a second supervisory control signal light ray that is a control signal for the second wavelength-multiplexed signal, wherein the first supervisory control signal light ray and the second supervisory control signal light ray each have a wavelength in a wavelength band different from the first wavelength band and the second wavelength band.

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, receiving a first optical signal from a first optical network via a first port of the wavelength converter, receiving a second optical signal from a second optical network via a second port of the wavelength converter, modulating the first optical signal with the second light signal to generate a third optical signal, eliminating the first light signal from the third optical signal to generate a fourth optical signal, and transmitting the fourth optical signal through the second optical network. The first optical signal can include a first digital signal modulated onto a first light signal of a first wavelength, the second optical signal can include a second light signal can include a second wavelength different from the first wavelength, and the fourth optical signal can include the first digital signal modulated onto the second light signal. Other embodiments are disclosed.

A wavelength conversion device includes: a first wavelength conversion circuit that wavelength-converts, by passing first multiplex light obtained by multiplexing an optical signal of a first wavelength band from each transmitter through an inside of a wavelength conversion medium by using excitation light, the first multiplex light into second multiplex light in a second wavelength band different from the first wavelength band; and a first generation circuit that generates a first control signal that controls each transmitter to shift a signal wavelength of each optical signal in the first multiplex light before wavelength conversion according to a subsequent part to which the second multiplex light after wavelength conversion in the first wavelength conversion circuit is input, and transmits the first control signal to each transmitter.

A transmission device including a demultiplexer configured to demultiplex a multiplexed light obtained by multiplexing the plurality of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical signals including different wavelength bands into the plurality of WDM optical signals, a plurality of optical amplifiers configured to amplify the plurality of WDM optical signals, respectively, a wavelength converter configured to convert a first wavelength band of the wavelength bands of at least a first WDM optical signal of the plurality of WDM optical signals amplified by the plurality of optical amplifiers into a second wavelength band of the wavelength bands of a second WDM optical signal of the plurality of WDM optical signals so that the second wavelength band does not overlap among the wavelength bands, and a multiplexer configured to multiplex the plurality of WDM optical signals which include the wavelength bands converted by the wavelength converter.

A system for interconnecting a plurality of computing nodes includes a plurality of optical circuit switches and a plurality of electrical circuit switches. A first network stage comprises a first plurality of circuit switches selected from among the plurality of optical circuit switches and the plurality of electrical circuit switches. Each computing node among the plurality of computing nodes is optically coupled to at least one of the first plurality of circuit switches. A second network stage comprises a second plurality of circuit switches selected from among the plurality of optical circuit switches and the plurality of electrical circuit switches. Each circuit switch among the first plurality of circuit switches is optically coupled to each circuit switch among the second plurality of optical circuit switches.

A wavelength conversion device includes: a first wavelength conversion circuit that wavelength-converts, by passing first multiplex light obtained by multiplexing an optical signal of a first wavelength band from each transmitter through an inside of a wavelength conversion medium by using excitation light, the first multiplex light into second multiplex light in a second wavelength band different from the first wavelength band; and a first generation circuit that generates a first control signal that controls each transmitter to shift a signal wavelength of each optical signal in the first multiplex light before wavelength conversion according to a subsequent part to which the second multiplex light after wavelength conversion in the first wavelength conversion circuit is input, and transmits the first control signal to each transmitter.

A wavelength monitoring apparatus includes a wavelength monitoring circuit. The wavelength monitoring circuit includes: a split circuit that splits an input optical signal into two; an optical delay circuit that applies a delay time difference to the two split optical signals; and a two-input two-output optical multiplexer/demultiplexer circuit that outputs a result of applying multiplexing interference to the optical signals to which the delay time difference has been applied. The wavelength monitoring apparatus further includes photoelectric conversion elements that perform photoelectric conversions on the two optical signals output from the wavelength monitoring circuit so as to output electrical signals. The wavelength monitoring apparatus is configured to obtain the wavelength of the optical signal, by calculating a ratio between two electrical outputs of the photoelectric conversion elements and referring to a correspondence table indicating wavelengths of optical signals input to the wavelength monitoring circuit and ratios between electrical outputs.

The present disclosure describes a network including two levels of switching: a first level including wavelength selective switching via a first type of switching module, and a second level including fiber level switching via a second type of switching module. The two levels of switching allow for maintaining wavelength selective switching between transmission directions while introducing fiber selective switching between network degrees of the same transmission direction. The first type of switching module is configured to transmit and receive optical signals having a first set of wavelengths at a first network degree at a first direction in a node of a network. The second type of switching module is configured to transmit and receive the optical signals from the first type of switching module and route the optical signals at the first network degree to a second network degree in a second direction.