Signal routing device

US5428698A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• The Secretary of State for Defence in Her Britannic Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland · GB

Inventors

• Richard M. Jenkins · Worcester, GB
• John Heaton · Malvern, GB

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 24, 1994
• Grant date: Jun 27, 1995
• Expiry date: Aug 24, 2014

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G02F1/217
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A signal routing device (10) incorporates a multimode beamsplitter waveguide (20) connected by a set of parallel relay waveguides (22) to a multimode recombiner waveguide (24). Each relay waveguide (22) contains a respective electro-optic phase shifter (36). Sets of input and output waveguides (18, 28) are connected to the beamsplitter and recombiner waveguides (20, 24) respectively. The input and output waveguides (18, 28) are periodically spaced at off-center positions across the respective multimode waveguide transverse cross-section associated therewith. Radiation in any one of the input waveguides (18) is distributed between the relay waveguides (22) by virtue of modal dispersion in the beamsplitter waveguide (20). The phase shifters (36) apply a set of phase shifts to the distributed radiation. Modal dispersion in the recombiner waveguide (24) results in the phase shifted radiation providing a non-zero input to one or more of the output waveguides (28). Different sets of phase shifts provide for radiation in any one of the input waveguides (18) being transferred selectably to any one or more of the output waveguides (28), as required for selectable signal routing.