Granted Patent B2

US 7,262,898 · App. 11/241,830 · Granted Aug 28, 2007

Abstract

Claims (31)

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a modulating mechanism comprising a plurality of one-dimensional modulating component arrays, each one-dimensional modulating component array comprising a plurality of modulating components, each modulating component having a pitch; wherein

adjacent ones of the plurality of modulating components in each one-dimensional modulating component array are separated by gaps; and

adjacent ones of the plurality of one-dimensional modulating component arrays are adjacent in a direction normal to a dispersion direction, the adjacent ones of the plurality of one-dimensional modulating component arrays being offset in the dispersion direction by a fraction of the pitch such that the gaps are offset.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each gap is normal to a dispersion direction of an incident optical signal.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the fraction of the pitch is determined according to a number of one-dimensional modulating component arrays in the plurality of modulating component arrays.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:

a light dispersing mechanism, the light dispersing mechanism spatially dispersing a received optical signal onto the modulating mechanism in a direction parallel to the one-dimensional modulating component arrays.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the spatially dispersed optical signal is incident on at least a portion of the modulating components in each of the one-dimensional modulating component arrays.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein a portion of the modulating components in each of the one-dimensional modulating component arrays is adapted for reducing an extent of transmission drops in a transmission spectrum of the incident optical signal.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein a portion of the modulating components in each of the one-dimensional modulating component arrays is adapted for dynamically allocating optical bandwidth.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein a portion of the modulating components in each of the one-dimensional modulating component arrays is adapted for performing wavelength selective switching.

9. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein a portion of the modulating components in each of the one-dimensional modulating component arrays is adapted for reducing a transition band associated with a transmission spectrum of the incident optical signal, the transition band comprising bandwidth over which the transmission spectrum changes from an initial transmissivity state to a final transmissivity state, the transition band comprising at least one other transmissivity state between the initial and final transmissivity states.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of one-dimensional modulating component arrays is adapted such that an optical power of an incident optical signal spectrum is distributed substantially equally across each of the one-dimensional modulating component arrays.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

a modulating mechanism comprising a plurality of one-dimensional modulating component arrays, each array comprising a plurality of modulating components; wherein

adjacent ones of the plurality of modulating components in each one-dimensional modulating component array are separated by gaps, each gap normal to a dispersion direction of an incident optical signal; and

adjacent ones of the plurality of one-dimensional modulating component arrays are offset along the dispersion direction such that the gaps are offset.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the gaps are offset by an offset distance.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the offset distance is determined according to a pitch of each modulating component and a number of one-dimensional modulating component arrays in the plurality of one-dimensional modulating component arrays.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the modulating mechanism comprises two one-dimensional modulating component arrays, wherein the offset distance is one half of the pitch.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising:

a light dispersing mechanism, the light dispersing mechanism spatially dispersing a received optical onto the modulating mechanism in a direction parallel to the one-dimensional modulating component arrays.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein a portion of the modulating components in each of the one-dimensional modulating component arrays is adapted for dynamically allocating optical bandwidth.

17. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein a portion of the modulating components in each of the one-dimensional modulating component arrays is adapted for performing wavelength selective switching.

18. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein a portion of the modulating components in each of the one-dimensional modulating component arrays is adapted for blocking a portion of the incident optical signal.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein a portion of the modulating components in each of the one-dimensional modulating component arrays are adapted for reducing a transition band associated with a transmission spectrum of the incident optical signal, the transition band comprising bandwidth over which the transmission spectrum changes from an initial transmissivity state to a final transmissivity state.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

a modulating mechanism comprising a plurality of modulating components, each modulating component comprising a plurality of modulating elements, adjacent ones of the modulating elements in each modulating component arranged along a line and being separated by gaps;

wherein adjacent ones of the modulating components are adjacent in a direction normal to a dispersion direction of an incident optical signal;

wherein the adjacent ones of the modulating components are offset for offsetting the gaps between the adjacent ones of the modulating elements in a direction parallel to the dispersion direction.

Assignments (14)