All-optical interconnect utilizing polarization gates
US6259831A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 29, 1999 |
| Grant date | Jul 10, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 29, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04Q2011/0081
- WIPO fieldTelecommunications
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A switch element utilizes a single polarizer to couple two discreet inputs to any combination of two discreet outputs along non-blocking optical paths. This switch element may be conveniently networked to additional switch elements for scaling to switches having larger numbers (N) of inputs and outputs. The present invention provides advantages typically associated with conventional polarization gates, including terabit per-second data rates, to facilitate use in fiber-optics networks. This switch element is relatively robust and insensitive to environmental disturbances and has a reconfiguration time which is an order of magnitude faster than conventional optomechanical switches which generally require tens of milliseconds before reconfiguration. The switch element provides constant data pathlength for constant latency, loss, and unskewed data output. The element also advantageously provides for convenient scaling to a non-blocking N.times.N configuration using N* (log.sub.2 N-1) 2.times.2 switches rather than conventional approaches which require N(log.sub.2 N) switches, for a relatively simple and compact configuration.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.