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:
Dec. 16, 2008
Filed:
Jan. 19, 2006
Hilml Volkan Demir, Stanford, CA (US);
David A. B. Miller, Stanford, CA (US);
Vijit Ashok Sabnis, Los Altos, CA (US);
Hilml Volkan Demir, Stanford, CA (US);
David A. B. Miller, Stanford, CA (US);
Vijit Ashok Sabnis, Los Altos, CA (US);
The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
An optical switch assembly is provided having a plurality of optoelectronic switching nodes. Each node is a three terminal optical device having a first optical input, a second optical input and an optical output. Each node can be electrically activated or deactivated via an electrical control input. Each node has a transmittance between its second optical input and its optical output. This transmittance depends on the signal at the first optical input if the node is activated, and is independent of the first optical input if the node is deactivated. Thus modulation at the first optical input can be selectively imposed on the optical output. The switch includes at least two chains of nodes, each chain having two or more nodes connected in series such that each pair of adjacent nodes is connected from optical output to second optical input. Switches according to the invention can be configured as optical crossbar switches or optical routers.