Optical switching device using spectral trigger

1. An apparatus comprising:

an integrated circuit;

a processor on the integrated circuit, wherein the processor is configured to:

split an optical signal into a first optical signal and a second optical signal, wherein the first optical signal comprises a plurality of encoded wavelengths;

receive a selection signal, wherein the selection signal selects a plurality of active wavelengths, wherein the active wavelengths are a subset of the encoded wavelengths;

compute the routing information for the second optical signal using the active wavelengths; and

switch the second optical signal using the routing information to a downstream component, wherein the optical signal includes sequential packets.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform a spectrum analysis on the first optical signal to obtain the power spectrum data for the encoded wavelengths and compute the routing information for the second optical signal using the power spectrum data for the active wavelengths.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the power spectrum data comprises a plurality of energy peaks, wherein some of the energy peaks represent the active wavelengths, and wherein instructions further cause the processor to compute the routing information using the energy peaks that represent the active wavelengths.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the energy peaks comprise a plurality of relative heights, and wherein the instructions further cause the processor to compute the routing information using the relative heights for the active wavelengths.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to amplify the second optical signal prior to switching the second optical signal.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first optical signal comprises a destination address header, and wherein the active wavelengths encode a portion of the destination address header.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the processor is further configured to compute the routing information using the portion of the destination address header.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus comprises a plurality of output ports, and wherein instructions further cause the processor to switch the second optical signal to one of the output ports using the routing information.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the selection signal selects a first encoded wavelength and a second encoded wavelength as the active wavelengths.

10. An apparatus comprising:

a first single-stage component comprising a first output port and a second output port;

a second single-stage component coupled to the first output port; and

a third single-stage component coupled to the second output port,

wherein the first single-stage component is configured to:

receive an optical signal comprising a plurality of encoded wavelengths;

receive a first selection message from a selection logic unit; and

switch the optical signal to one of the output ports using the encoded wavelengths and the first selection message, wherein consecutive packets within the optical signal may be switched to a same one of the output ports, and

wherein the selection logic unit is configured to transmit a second selection message to the second single-stage component and to the third single-stage component, and

wherein the first selection message selects a subset of the encoded wavelengths, and wherein the subset of the encoded wavelengths switches the optical signal.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the selection logic unit is external to the apparatus.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the first selection message and the second selection message are a sequence of bits, and wherein data values for the first select message and the second selection message are different.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the first bit position of the first selection message has a one data value, and wherein the second bit position of the first selection message has a zero data value.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the first bit position of the second selection message has a zero data value, and wherein the second bit position of the second selection message has a one data value.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the second single-stage component is configured to receive a routed optical signal from the first single-stage component and switch the optical signal using the second selection message.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the third single-stage component is configured to receive a routed optical signal from the first single-stage component and switch the optical signal using the second selection message.

17. An apparatus comprising:

a first single-stage component comprising a first output port and a second output port;

a second single-stage component coupled to the first output port; and

a third single-stage component coupled to the second output port,

wherein the first single-stage component is configured to:

receive an optical signal comprising a plurality of encoded wavelengths;

receive a first selection message from a selection logic unit; and

switch the optical signal to one of the output ports using the encoded wavelengths and the first selection message, wherein consecutive packets within the optical signal may be switched to a same one of the output ports, and

wherein the selection logic unit is configured to transmit a second selection message to the second single-stage component and to the third single-stage component, and

wherein the optical signal comprises a destination address header, wherein the first selection message selects a portion of the destination address header, and wherein the portion determines the output port to switch the optical signal.

18. A method comprising:

decoding a destination address encoded in an optical signal to a sequence of bits using spectrum analysis;

partition the destination address into a plurality of segments, wherein each segment comprises one data value for a bit position in the destination address, wherein each segment has data values for different bit positions in the destination address;

selecting a first segment;

routing the optical signal in an optical network using the first segment;

selecting a second segment; and

routing the optical signal using the second segment after the optical signal has been routed using the first segment.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the first segment comprises a data value for the first bit position in the destination address, and wherein the second segment comprises a data value for the second position in the destination address.