System and methods for routing optical signals

1. A system for routing optical signals, comprising:

a first large core hollow waveguide having a reflective coating covering an interior of the first hollow waveguide and configured to guide a substantially collimated multi-mode coherent light beam;

a second large core hollow waveguide having a reflective coating covering an interior of the second hollow waveguide; and

a coupling device optically coupled to the first and second waveguides and configured to redirect at least a portion of the multi-mode coherent light beam from the first to the second waveguide, wherein an optical path through the coupling device is sufficiently short that a beam walk-off of the multi-mode coherent light through the coupling device is less than half a width of the first large core hollow waveguide.

2. A system as in claim 1 , wherein the reflective coating covering the interior of the first and second hollow waveguides is selected from the group consisting of a reflective metal, a dielectric film, and a dielectric film stack.

3. A system as in claim 1 , wherein the first and second large core hollow waveguides have a cross sectional dimension that is greater than 50 times a wavelength of the coherent light beam.

4. A system as in claim 1 , wherein the optical path through the coupling device is sufficiently short that the beam walk-off of the multi-mode coherent light through the coupling device is less than one tenth the width of the first large core hollow waveguide.

5. A system as in claim 1 , wherein the coupling device comprises a substrate having a beam window area.

6. A system as in claim 5 , further comprising a semi-transparent film substantially covering the beam window area, wherein the semi-transparent film has a thickness that provides an optical path through the semi-transparent film that is sufficiently short that the beam walk-off of the multi-mode coherent light passing through the semi-transparent film is less than half the width of the first large core hollow waveguide.

7. A system as in claim 6 , wherein the semi-reflective film is a dielectric stack comprising a plurality of layers of dielectric film.

8. A system as in claim 5 , further comprising a metallized film configured to substantially cover the beam window area, wherein the metallized film comprises a film that is substantially transparent to the coherent light beam, further comprising a plurality of metal dots covering a portion of the substantially transparent film, wherein the dots have a major dimension that is less than a wavelength of the coherent light beam and wherein the substantially transparent film has a thickness that provides an optical path through the substantially transparent film that is sufficiently short that a beam walk-off of the multi-mode coherent light passing through the substantially transparent film is less than half the width of the first large core hollow waveguide.

9. A system as in claim 8 , further comprising a substantially transparent aperture within the metallized film configured to transmit at least a portion of the coherent light through the aperture area and reflect the coherent light outside of the aperture area.

10. A system as in claim 5 , further comprising a grating coupling device configured to substantially cover the beam window area, wherein the grating coupling device comprises a plurality of reflective appendages configured to reflect light, with each reflective appendage separated by an open area configured to transmit light.

11. A system as in claim 10 , wherein the reflective appendages are comprised of the substrate having an appendage reflective coating.

12. A system as in claim 11 , wherein the appendage reflective coating is selected from the group consisting of a reflective metal, a dielectric film, and a dielectric stack.

13. A system as in claim 1 , wherein the coupling device further comprises a coupling bar having an array of coupling devices.

14. A system as in claim 1 , wherein the coupling device further comprises a coupling bar having a bar beam window area.

15. A system as in claim 13 , wherein the coupling bar is configured to be optically coupled to a first array of substantially collinear large core hollow waveguides located in a plane.

16. A system as in claim 15 , further comprising a second array of substantially collinear large core hollow waveguides located outside the plane of the first array and optically coupled to the coupling bar, wherein each waveguide in the first array is optically coupled to a waveguide in the second array through the bar beam window area in the coupling bar.

17. A method for routing optical signals, comprising:

directing a substantially collimated multi-mode coherent light beam into a first large core hollow waveguide having a reflective coating covering an interior of the first large core hollow waveguide; and

coupling the light beam into a second large core hollow waveguide having a reflective coating covering an interior of the second hollow waveguide with a coupling device;

wherein the coupling device is optically coupled to the first and second waveguides and configured to redirect at least a portion of the multi-mode coherent light beam from the first to the second waveguide, wherein an optical path through the coupling device is sufficiently short that a beam walk-off of the multi-mode coherent light through the coupling device is less than half a width of the first large core hollow waveguide.

18. A method as in claim 17 , further comprising coupling the coherent light beam into the second large core hollow waveguide with the coupling device, wherein the coupling device comprises a substrate having a beam window area, wherein the beam window area includes a beam redirection device selected from the group consisting of a semi-transparent film, a dielectric film, a dielectric stack, a metallized film having a metal covering comprising metal dots with a major dimension less than a wavelength of the coherent light, a metallized film aperture, and a grating coupling device.

19. A method as in claim 17 , further comprising directing the substantially collimated multi-mode coherent light beam from each waveguide in a first array of collinear large core hollow waveguides located in a plane to a second array of collinear large core hollow waveguides located outside the plane using a coupling bar having an array of coupling devices, with each coupling device aligned between a waveguide from the first array and a waveguide from the second array.

20. A method as in claim 17 , further comprising coupling the coherent light beam from the first to the second waveguide with the coupling device, wherein the optical path through the coupling device is sufficiently short that the beam walk-off of the multi-mode coherent light through the coupling device is less than one tenth the width of the first large core hollow waveguide.

21. A method for making an optical signal routing system, comprising:

forming a first large core hollow waveguide having a reflective coating covering an interior of the first hollow waveguide and configured to guide a substantially collimated multi-mode coherent light beam;

forming a second large core hollow waveguide having the reflective coating covering an interior of the second hollow waveguide;

inserting a coupling device at a desired junction of the first and second large core hollow waveguides, wherein the coupling device is inserted at a selected angle relative to a path of the multi-mode coherent light beam; and

optically coupling the first and second waveguides with the coupling device to enable at least a portion of the collimated multi-mode coherent light beam to be coupled from the first large core hollow waveguide to the second large core hollow waveguide, wherein the first and second waveguides are positioned at a guiding angle relative to each other, with the guiding angle being approximately twice the selected angle to minimize reflections of the coherent light beam in the second waveguide, and wherein an optical path through the coupling device is sufficiently short that a beam walk-off of the multi-mode coherent light through the coupling device is less than half a width of the first large core hollow waveguide.

22. A method as in claim 21 , further comprising forming a first array of substantially collinear large core hollow waveguides located in a plane and optically coupling each waveguide in the first array to a second array of substantially collinear large core hollow waveguides located outside the plane using a coupling bar comprising a plurality of coupling devices, with each coupling device on the coupling bar aligned between a waveguide in the first array and a waveguide in the second array.