Optical interconnecting device and method
US5165104A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 1, 1991 |
| Grant date | Nov 17, 1992 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 1, 2011 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG02F1/332
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An optical interconnecting device and method are disclosed for selectively directing signals from an array of optical inputs to an array of optical outputs through an optical medium. The input signals are angularly multiplexed and redirected by dynamic gratings of the appropriate spatial, or grating, frequency. Spatially periodic optical index perturbations propragated in the medium are utilized to achieve the dynamic gratings. The angles at which light is input to the gratings (input angles) and angles at which light is collected from the gratings (output angles) are selected to allow each grating frequency to connect signals at only one input angle to one output angle and thus only one optical output. The number of resolvable gratings required is the product of the number of inputs and the number of output. For the interconnection of an equal number of inputs and outputs connected in a one to one permutation, only a number of gratings equal to the number of inputs need be present simultaneously.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.