The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 26, 2004
Filed:
Apr. 04, 2002
William H. Culver, Washington, DC (US);
Comptic, Inc., Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
An optical switch for an optical network, which can switch a light beam from and input fiber to an output fiber quickly and without expensive intermediate conversions to electrical form. The optical switch changes the relative phase of the individual portions of a cross section of a wave front of a beam using wave front interference and can be used in packet switching with switching speeds of about 10 nanoseconds. These optical switches use a phase spatial light modulators (PSLM) that include an array of phase shifting elements preferably of Gires-Tournois interferometers. Each of the phase shifting elements has either a stationary reflective surface with a movable reflective surface or an electro-refractive medium sandwiched between two stationary surfaces. In the first embodiment, the stationary reflective surface with a movable reflective surface is kept a known distance apart by applied potential. In the second embodiment, an applied potential across the electro-refractive medium changes the optical wave path length of the phase shifting element. In a third embodiment, a prism or other spectral dispersing element is used to spectrally separate different wavelengths of a beam carrying a wavelength division multiplexed signal in a Litrow configuration. A spatial light modular is then used to controllably steer the separated wavelengths to a desired directions.