Jds Fitel Inc.

Ian MacDonald

Reza Paiam

Neil S Lagali

Combinations of optically coupled Generalized Mach-Zehnder Interferometers (GMZIs) result in switches of greater switching capacity than an isolated GMZI. In a preferred form, the present invention provides a balanced non-blocking switch by using symmetrical configurations of optically coupled GMZIs, and also provides a cascaded non-blocking switch by cascading an N&times;N GMZI with a (N&minus;1)&times;(N&minus;1) non-blocking switch.

N&times;N non-blocking optical switch

An optical apparatus is disclosed that includes a first Z&times;T optical switch having Z input ports and T output ports, where T is at least 2, optically coupled to an integrated optical generalized Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The result is an optical switch, which is operated using a smaller number of control elements and control levels than the generalized Mach-Zehnder interferometer alone.

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Manotick, Canada

Ian MacDonald