Routing optical signals

1. An apparatus to route optical signals, comprising:

a plurality of hollow metal waveguide optical switch arrays, each of the arrays comprising:

a plurality of optical input ports; and

a plurality of optical output ports, the input ports and the output ports for a first one of the arrays being arranged in a first plane, the input ports and the output ports for a second one of the arrays being arranged in a second plane, and the plurality of arrays being stacked such that the first and second planes are adjacent, the first one of the arrays to convey optical signals from a first communication device to a second communication device and the second one of the arrays to convey optical signals from the second communication device to the first communication device.

2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of arrays includes a plurality of microelectromechanical reflectors to selectively couple pairs of the input ports and the output ports of the respective array.

3. An apparatus as defined in claim 2 , wherein a first one of the pluralities of the microelectromechanical reflectors for the first array and a second one of the matrices of the microelectromechanical reflectors for the second array are to couple corresponding input ports for the first and second arrays to corresponding output ports of the first and second arrays, respectively.

4. An apparatus as defined in claim 3 , wherein the first plurality of microelectromechanical systems for the first array and the second plurality of microelectromechanical systems for the second array are configured to simultaneously couple the corresponding input ports for the first and second arrays to the corresponding output ports of the first and second arrays.

5. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 , further comprising a switch controller to control a plurality of microelectromechanical reflectors in the first and second arrays to selectively change optical pathways between the input and output ports of the first and second arrays.

6. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein a first microelectromechanical reflector in the first array is to cooperate with a second microelectromechanical reflector in the second array, such that the first and second microelectromechanical reflectors optically couple corresponding input ports on the first and second arrays to corresponding output ports on the first and second arrays, respectively.

7. An apparatus as defined in claim 6 , wherein the corresponding input ports of the first and second arrays are adjacent, the corresponding output ports of the first and second arrays are adjacent, and the corresponding microelectromechanical reflectors of the first and second arrays are adjacent.

8. A method to route optical signals, comprising:

applying at least one signal to a plurality of hollow metal waveguide optical switch arrays, each of the arrays comprising a plurality of optical input ports and a plurality of optical output ports, the input ports and the output ports for a first one of the arrays being arranged on a first plane, the input ports and the output ports for a second one of the arrays being arranged on a second plane, and the arrays being stacked such that the first and second planes are adjacent, wherein the first one of the arrays is to convey optical signals from a first communication device to a second communication device and the second one of the arrays is to convey optical signals from the second communication device to the first communication device, wherein the output ports of the first array are adjacent the input ports of the second array; and

responding to the at least one signal by adjusting microelectromechanical reflectors in the first and second arrays to form optical pathways between the input ports and the output ports, such that corresponding input ports of the first and second arrays are in optical communication with corresponding output ports of the first and second arrays.

9. A method as defined in claim 8 , wherein responding to the at least one signal further comprises simultaneously adjusting the microelectromechanical reflectors to form the optical pathways.

10. A method as defined in claim 8 , wherein applying the at least one signal comprises applying a first signal to the first array and applying a second signal to the second array, the first and second signals to cause the first and second arrays to cause corresponding ones of the microelectromechanical reflectors in the first and second arrays to form the pathways.

11. A system to route optical signals, comprising:

a first plurality of source devices;

a second plurality of destination devices, the number of source devices in the first plurality being different than the number of destination devices in the second plurality; and

an optical switch having a plurality of layers, wherein a first one of the layers is to convey optical signals from a first one of the source devices to a second one of the destination devices and a second one of the layers is to convey optical signals from the second one of the destination devices to the first one of the source devices.

12. A system as defined in claim 11 , wherein the optical switch is to selectively couple ones of the first plurality of source devices to respective ones of the second plurality of destination devices by simultaneously coupling corresponding ports on a first side of the plurality of layers to corresponding ports on a second side of the plurality of layers.

13. A system as defined in claim 11 , further comprising a switch controller to actuate microelectromechanical mirrors in the layers to selectively couple ones of the input ports to the ones of the output ports.

14. A system as defined in claim 13 , wherein the switch controller is in circuit with corresponding ones of the microelectromechanical mirrors on different ones of the layers via a bus connection.

15. A system as defined in claim 13 , wherein the switch controller is coupled to corresponding ones of the microelectromechanical mirrors of the plurality of layers via an inter-layer connection.