Wavelength selective reconfigurable optical cross-connect

1. An optical coupling device including:

a at least a first input port for delivering an optical input signal beam, said input beam including a plurality of wavelength channels;

b a plurality of optical output ports;

c a wavelength dispersion element comprising a series of optical power elements and an optically dispersive element, the wavelength dispersion element spatially separating said plurality of wavelength channels in said optical input signal beam to form a plurality of spatially separated wavelength channel beams in spatially separated elongate bands;

d an optical phased-matrix coupling device comprising a phase grating structure for independently modifying a phase front of each of said plurality of spatially separated wavelength channel beams in the spatially separated elongate bands such that multiple wavelengths channels are simultaneously and independently switched to at least two of the plurality of optical output ports.

2. An optical coupling device as claimed in claim 1 including at least two output ports wherein a selected fraction of the light in at least one wavelength is coupled to said first output port and simultaneously a fraction of the light is coupled to a second output port.

3. An optical coupling device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said phased-matrix coupling device is a spatial light modulator.

4. An optical coupling device as claimed in claim 3 wherein said spatial light modulator comprises a liquid crystal display device having a series of light modulating pixels formed thereon.

5. An optical coupling device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said spatially separated wavelength channel beams received by said phased-matrix coupling device are in the form of wavelength separated elongated bands.

6. An optical coupling device as claimed in claim 5 wherein said elongate bands are aligned in the plane of said zones.

7. An optical coupling device as claimed in claim 5 wherein said wavelength separated elongated bands are substantially collimated along their major axis and substantially focused along their minor axis.

8. An optical coupling device as claimed in claim 5 wherein the ratio of the width of the major axis to the width of the minor axis of the bands is equal to or greater than 5.

9. An optical coupling device as claimed in claim 7 wherein said phased-matrix coupling device is in the telecentric plane of said wavelength channel beams in said focused axis.

10. An optical coupling device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said wavelength dispersion element is a diffraction grating.

11. An optical coupling device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the optical signals traversing said wavelength dispersion element have substantially aligned polarization.

12. An optical coupling device as claimed in claim 1 including polarization manipulation elements separating light from said optical signal input ports into first and second polarized beams of predetermined polarizations and substantially equalizing the polarizations of said polarized beams to be substantially aligned.

13. An optical coupling device as claimed in claim 12 wherein the light emitted from said optical signal ports passes through a numerical aperture modifying means before traversing said polarization manipulation element.

14. An optical coupling device as claimed in claim 12 including path equalization elements such that the distance traveled by each of said polarized beams through the device is substantially equal.

15. An optical coupling device as claimed in claim 12 wherein said first and second polarized beams are angularly separated.

16. An optical coupling device including wavelength dispersion elements comprising a series of optical power elements and an optically dispersive element and a diffractive optical phase matrix coupling device comprising a phase grating structure, said diffractive optical phase matrix coupling device transforming an input signal into substantially spatially separated elongate bands for processing by said optical phased-matrix processing device and modifying the input signal such that the optical power in a selected wavelength region can be simultaneously coupled in a controllable ratio between at least a first and a second output port.

17. An optical coupling device including wavelength dispersion elements comprising a series of optical power elements and an optically dispersive element and a diffractive optical phase matrix coupling device comprising a phase grating structure, said diffractive optical phase matrix coupling device transforming wavelength signals into substantially spatially separated elongate bands for processing by said optical phased-matrix processing device and modifying an input signal such that the optical power in a selected wavelength region can be simultaneously coupled in a controllable ratio between at least a first output port and a null port.

18. An optical processing device including at least one optical input port, wavelength dispersion means comprising a series of optical power elements and an optically dispersive element, a polarization separation means, a polarization manipulation means, an optical phased-matrix processing means, and a plurality of optical outputs for processing wavelength signals contained in an optical input signal, wherein the wavelength dispersion means transforms said wavelength signals into substantially spatially separated elongate bands for processing by said optical phased-matrix processing means such that, for at least one wavelength, a selected fraction of the light is simultaneously coupled to at least two of the plurality of output ports.

19. An optical processing device as claimed in claim 18 including a plurality of optical input ports and a plurality of optical output ports.

20. An optical device including:

a a linear array of optical ports, wherein at least one port is configured to launch an input signal into the optical device;

b a polarization manipulation element to form two angularly separated beams from said input signal wherein the polarization of said beams is substantially orthogonal, and such that the axis of said angular separation is substantially orthogonal to the axis of said array of optical ports;

c an optical imaging system such that the polarization states substantially spatially overlap simultaneously in time at an optical modulation device; and

d an optical modulation device including an optical phase matrix coupling device for independently modifying the phase front of each of a plurality of spatially separated wavelength channel beams of the two angularly separated beams such that particular spatially separated wavelength channel beam are directionally controlled by said optical imaging system.

21. An optical device as claimed in claim 20 wherein the optical modulation device is an optical phase manipulation device, said phase manipulation device being divided into a plurality of zones.

22. An optical device as claimed in claim 21 wherein said input signal includes a plurality of wavelength channels such that said angularly separated beams each include a plurality of wavelength channels, each said angularly separated beam being further angularly multiplexed with respect to wavelength by an optical dispersion element to form first and second groups of wavelength multiplexed angularly separated beams.

23. An optical device as claimed in claim 22 wherein like wavelengths in said first and second groups of wavelength multiplexed angularly separated beams are directed by said optical elements such that they substantially overlap on one of said zones on said phase manipulation device.

24. An optical device as claimed in claim 20 further including means of substantially equalizing the optical path lengths of said angularly separated beams.

25. An optical device as claimed in claim 24 wherein said path equalizing means includes birefringent optical elements, prisms, transparent optical materials with a refractive index greater than 1, optical power elements, and optical reflecting elements.