Claims
- 1. A 1XN optical connector for steering light comprising:
a first stage including a first liquid crystal cell having a first state for transmitting a first polarization component of the light and a second state for transmitting a second polarization component of the light; and a first polarizing beam splitter structure reflecting the first polarization state and transmitting the second polarization state into one of a pair of outputs, wherein the first liquid crystal cell and the first polarizing beam splitter structure are formed as a monolithic structure.
- 2. The optical connector as in claim 1, further comprising:
a second stage including one or more second liquid crystal cell windows for receiving an input from the first polarizing beam splitter, the liquid crystal cell windows having a first state for transmitting the first polarization component of the light and a second state for transmitting the second polarization component of the light; and a second polarizing beam splitter structure reflecting the first polarization state and transmitting the second polarization state into one of four of outputs wherein the second liquid crystal cell and the second polarizing beam splitter structure are formed as a monolithic structure, and the first stage and the second stage are formed as a monolithic structure.
- 3. The optical connector as in claim 1, further comprising:
an Nth stage including one or more Nth stage liquid crystal cell windows for receiving an input from the (N−1)th polarizing beam splitter, the liquid crystal cell windows having a first state for transmitting the first polarization component of the light and a second state for transmitting the second polarization component of the light; and an Nth stage polarizing beam splitter structure reflecting the first polarization state and transmitting the second polarization state into one of 2N of outputs wherein the Nth stage liquid crystal cell windows and the Nth stage polarizing beam splitter structure are formed as a monolithic structure, and the first stage through the Nth second stage are formed as a monolithic structure.
- 4. An optical cross connect comprising a first 1XN optical connector of claim 1 aligned with a second 1XN optical connector of claim 1 orthogonal to the first 1XN optical connector, the second 1XN optical connector reversed so that it is configured as an NX1 optical connector respective the first 1XN optical connector.
- 5. The optical cross connect as in claim 4, further comprising a conditioning window interposed between the first 1XN optical connector and the NX1 optical connector.
- 6. The optical cross connect as in claim 5, wherein the conditioning window is selected from the group of optical conditioning devices consisting of variable optical attenuators, optical shutters, microlenses, micro prisms, or any combination comprising at least one of the foregoing optical conditioning devices.
- 7. A method for fabricating an optical switch array comprising the steps of:
forming a plurality of layers of insulating media and polarizing beam splitter material; slicing said plurality of layers at a 45 degree angle to form a polarizing beam splitter array; stacking said beam splitter array and a liquid crystal cell.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present invention claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Applications No. 60/387,355, which is incorporated by reference herein.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60387355 |
Jun 2002 |
US |