MULTICHANNEL OPTICAL WAVELENGTH-SELECTIVE SWITCH WITH ARRAYED-WAVE-GUIDE GRATING MULTIPLEXER

A novel multichannel optical wavelength selective switch is proposed, which can switch arbitrary wavelength signals between multiple channels at high speed. It is based on the combination of an arrayed-waveguide grating multiplexer and an array of optical space-division switches. A 1 x 2 optical wavelength selective switch for two multiplexed signals with a 0.7nm wavelength spacing is demonstrated using the silica-glass based arrayed-waveguide grating multiplexer and the 1 x 2 laser diode gate switch.