Optical router

Abstract

An optical routing element may include a planar dielectric photonic crystal which includes a lattice of holes having a first linear defect adjacent a second linear defect, with the two defects being separated by a central row of lattice holes. The first linear defect in the lattice of holes may form a first single mode line defect waveguide, and the second linear defect in the lattice of holes may form a second single mode line defect waveguide. Optical energy may be selectively coupled between the first and second waveguides across the central row of lattice holes. A free-carrier injector may be included to inject free-carriers into the dielectric photonic crystal, activation of which may alter selectivity of the optical coupling between the first and second waveguides. A plurality of optical routing elements with associated free-carrier injectors may be interconnected to form a bi-directional optical routing array.

1 - 28 . (canceled) 
     
     
         29 . An optical signal router comprising:
 a plurality of router input/output ports of the optical signal router each configured to connect to a corresponding external waveguide to optically communicate therewith; and   an array of optical routing nodes interposed between the plurality of router input/output ports to selectively route optical signals between pairs of the router input/output ports, each optical routing node comprising:
 four bi-directional optical switches including a first bi-directional optical switch, a second bi-directional optical switch, a third bi-directional optical switch and a fourth bi-directional optical switch, each of the four bi-directional optical switches comprising a first switch input/output port, a second switch input/output port, a third switch input/output port and a fourth switch input/output port, each bi-direction optical switch configured to receive a first optical signal via either of the first and second switch input/output ports and output the first optical signal via a selected one of the third and fourth switch input/output ports, and configured to receive a second optical signal via either of the third and fourth switch input/output ports and to output the second optical signal via a selected one of the first and second switch input/output ports, 
 at least a portion of each of eight input/output waveguides, each of the eight input/output waveguides shared with and directly connected to either a neighboring optical routing node of the array of optical routing nodes or a router input/output port of the plurality of router input/output ports to provide a corresponding bi-directional optical signal path therebetween, each of the eight input/output optical waveguides directly connected to a corresponding one of the first and third switch input/output ports of the four bi-directional optical switches, and 
 four internal optical waveguides, each of the four internal optical waveguides directly connected to a second switch input/output port of one of the four bi-directional optical switches to a fourth switch input/output port of a neighboring one of the four bi-directional optical switches to provide a bi-directional optical signal path therebetween, the four internal optical waveguides and the four bi-directional optical switches thereby being connected to provide a bi-directional first closed loop optical signal path internal to the optical routing node, 
   whereby the optical signal router is configurable to provide plural optical signal paths between selected pairs of the router input/output ports in response to a selected configuration of each bi-directional optical switches to simultaneously transmit optical signals between the selected pairs of the router input/output ports on the plural optical signal paths.