CN117479054A - Wavelength selective switch and wavelength selective method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a wavelength selective switch and a wavelength selective method. The wavelength selective switch is configured to receive optical signals from one multi-core input optical fiber, wherein each fiber core in the multi-core input optical fiber comprises optical signals with a plurality of wavelengths, and the routing directions of the same wavelengths in different fiber cores are consistent; a plurality of optical signals of different wavelengths are output to a plurality of multi-core output fibers, and a plurality of optical signals of each same wavelength are coupled into one multi-core output fiber. The method can realize wavelength selection of the multi-core optical fiber and realize the optical switching function of the multi-core optical fiber network.

Description

Wavelength selective switch and wavelength selective method

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of optical communications, and in particular, to a wavelength selective switch and a wavelength selective method.

Background

Emerging services such as meta-universe, AI (artificial intelligence) and the like are continuously appeared, so that the rapid increase of network traffic is promoted. How to increase the communication capacity is an important research topic in recent years, wherein the space division multiplexing can be realized by using a multi-core optical fiber, and the increase of the communication capacity can be realized by several times or even ten times. However, a new technology is presented, and a plurality of matched photoelectric devices are required to be designed and realized to complete the construction and application of a whole set of optical fiber transmission system.

Disclosure of Invention

The inventors found through research that: WSS (Wavelength Selective Switch ) based on multi-core optical fiber is an important optical device for realizing the optical switching capability of an optical transmission system, and the related technology has not been designed by the invention of the related device at present.

In view of at least one of the above technical problems, the present disclosure provides a wavelength selective switch and a wavelength selective method, which can realize wavelength selection of a multi-core optical fiber and can realize an optical switching function of a multi-core optical fiber network.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a wavelength selective switch, wherein the wavelength selective switch is configured to receive optical signals from one multi-core input optical fiber, wherein each core in the multi-core input optical fiber comprises optical signals of a plurality of wavelengths, and routing directions of the same wavelengths in different cores are identical; a plurality of optical signals of different wavelengths are output to a plurality of multi-core output fibers, and a plurality of optical signals of each same wavelength are coupled into one multi-core output fiber.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the multicore input fiber includes M cores.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the wavelength selective switch is a 1×n wavelength selective switch.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the wavelength selective switch is configured to output a plurality of different wavelength optical signals into N multi-core output fibers, wherein each multi-core output fiber includes M cores, and the optical signals in the M cores of each multi-core output fiber have the same wavelength, and M, N is a natural number greater than 1.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the wavelength selective switch includes:

a multi-core fiber demultiplexer configured to decouple optical signals of multi-core input fibers into multiple parallel light paths;

the grating is configured to complete light path scattering and realize wavelength separation of multiple paths of parallel light;

a mirror comprising a plurality of regions, wherein each region of the mirror is configured to reflect received light of a different wavelength to a corresponding region of the liquid crystal on silicon chip;

a liquid crystal on silicon chip comprising a plurality of regions, wherein each region of the liquid crystal on silicon chip is configured to wavelength route light of a different wavelength;

a mirror configured to reflect light of different wavelengths after wavelength routing to the grating;

a grating configured to perform optical wavelength combining of the same routing direction for the light reflected by the reflecting mirror;

a multi-core fiber coupler configured to couple a plurality of parallel light having the same routing direction into one multi-core output fiber.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the multi-core fiber demultiplexer is configured to decouple the optical signal of the multi-core input fiber into M-way parallel light, where M is the number of cores of the multi-core input fiber.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the grating includes M block regions, which have the same structure since each wavelength of the M-way light has the same routing direction.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the mirror includes M block regions, the M block regions of the mirror having the same structure.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the liquid crystal on silicon chip includes M block regions.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, each region of the liquid crystal on silicon chip is configured to receive reflected light from a corresponding region of the mirror to perform wavelength routing of one of the cores in the multi-core input optical fiber.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the liquid crystal on silicon chip is configured to apply an electric field to each area of the liquid crystal on silicon chip, so that each pixel point of the liquid crystal layer is distorted, thereby changing a reflection angle, and further reflecting the reflected light received from the reflector to a specific position according to a designed optical path, so as to complete wavelength routing of one core in the multi-core input optical fiber.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the selectable paths for each wavelength correspond to N dimensions of the wavelength selective switch in one of the cores in the multi-core input fiber.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the number of routing directions corresponds to N dimensions of the wavelength selective switch, where N is the number of multicore output fibers.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a wavelength selection method including:

the wavelength selection switch receives optical signals from one multi-core input optical fiber, wherein each fiber core in the multi-core input optical fiber comprises a plurality of optical signals with wavelengths, and the routing directions of the same wavelengths in different fiber cores are consistent;

the wavelength selective switch outputs a plurality of optical signals of different wavelengths to a plurality of multi-core output fibers, and couples the plurality of optical signals of each same wavelength into one multi-core output fiber.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the multicore input fiber includes M cores.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the wavelength selective switch is a 1×n wavelength selective switch.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the wavelength selective switch outputting a plurality of different wavelength optical signals to a plurality of multi-core output fibers comprises: the wavelength selective switch outputs a plurality of optical signals with different wavelengths to N multi-core output optical fibers, wherein each multi-core output optical fiber comprises M fiber cores, the optical signals in the M fiber cores of each multi-core output optical fiber have the same wavelength, and M, N is a natural number larger than 1.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the wavelength selective switch outputting a plurality of different wavelength optical signals to a plurality of multi-core output fibers, coupling the plurality of optical signals each of the same wavelength into one multi-core output fiber comprises:

the optical signals of the multi-core input optical fibers are decoupled into multiple paths of parallel light through a multi-core optical fiber demultiplexer;

light path scattering is completed through the grating, and wavelength separation of multiple paths of parallel light is realized;

reflecting the received light with different wavelengths to corresponding areas of the LCOS chip through each area of the reflector, wherein the reflector and the LCOS chip comprise a plurality of areas;

wavelength routing is carried out on light with different wavelengths through each area of the silicon-based liquid crystal chip;

for the light with different wavelength after wavelength routing, reflecting the light to the grating through the reflecting mirror, and then completing the optical wavelength combining in the same routing direction through the grating;

multiple parallel light beams having the same routing direction are coupled into one multi-core output fiber through a multi-core fiber coupler.

In some embodiments of the disclosure, the decoupling the optical signals of the multicore input fibers into the multiplexed parallel light by the multicore fiber demultiplexer includes:

decoupling an optical signal of a multi-core input optical fiber into M paths of parallel light through a multi-core optical fiber demultiplexer, wherein M is the number of cores of the multi-core input optical fiber; the grating comprises M areas, and the M areas of the grating have the same structure because each wavelength of M paths of light has the same routing direction; the mirror includes M areas, and the M areas of the mirror have the same structure.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the wavelength routing of light of different wavelengths through each region of the liquid crystal on silicon chip includes:

and each area of the liquid crystal on silicon chip is configured to receive the reflected light of the corresponding area of the reflecting mirror to complete the wavelength routing of one fiber core in the multi-core input optical fiber, wherein the liquid crystal on silicon chip comprises M areas, and M is the fiber core number of the multi-core input optical fiber.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the wavelength routing of light of different wavelengths through each region of the liquid crystal on silicon chip includes:

by applying an electric field to each area of the liquid crystal on silicon chip, each pixel point of the liquid crystal layer is twisted, so that the reflection angle is changed, and reflected light received from the reflecting mirror is reflected to a specific position according to a designed light path, and wavelength routing of one fiber core in the multi-core input optical fiber is completed.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the selectable paths for each wavelength correspond to N dimensions of the wavelength selective switch in one of the cores in the multi-core input fiber.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the number of routing directions corresponds to N dimensions of the wavelength selective switch, where N is the number of multicore output fibers.

The method can realize wavelength selection of the multi-core optical fiber and realize the optical switching function of the multi-core optical fiber network.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present disclosure or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings that are required in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, and other drawings may be obtained according to these drawings without inventive effort to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of some embodiments of a wavelength selective switch of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of other embodiments of a wavelength selective switch of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of some embodiments of a grating of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of some embodiments of a mirror of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of some embodiments of a liquid crystal on silicon chip of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of some embodiments of a wavelength selection method of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The following description of the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be made clearly and completely with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, not all embodiments. The following description of at least one exemplary embodiment is merely illustrative in nature and is in no way intended to limit the disclosure, its application, or uses. Based on the embodiments in this disclosure, all other embodiments that a person of ordinary skill in the art would obtain without making any inventive effort are within the scope of protection of this disclosure.

The relative arrangement of the components and steps, numerical expressions and numerical values set forth in these embodiments do not limit the scope of the present disclosure unless it is specifically stated otherwise.

Meanwhile, it should be understood that the sizes of the respective parts shown in the drawings are not drawn in actual scale for convenience of description.

Techniques, methods, and apparatus known to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art may not be discussed in detail, but should be considered part of the specification where appropriate.

In all examples shown and discussed herein, any specific values should be construed as merely illustrative, and not a limitation. Thus, other examples of the exemplary embodiments may have different values.

It should be noted that: like reference numerals and letters denote like items in the following figures, and thus once an item is defined in one figure, no further discussion thereof is necessary in subsequent figures.

The inventors found through research that: carrying one service over multiple wavelengths is a direction of development in the future. In such a background, how to redesign the optical transmission system and the optical transceiver module is an important task in the future optical transmission field.

The present disclosure thus provides a wavelength selective switch and a wavelength selective method, which are described below by way of specific embodiments.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of some embodiments of a wavelength selective switch of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 1, the wavelength selective switch 10 of the present disclosure may be configured to receive optical signals from one multi-core input fiber, wherein each core in the multi-core input fiber comprises optical signals of multiple wavelengths, and the routing directions of the same wavelengths in different cores are identical; a plurality of optical signals of different wavelengths are output to a plurality of multi-core output fibers, and a plurality of optical signals of each same wavelength are coupled into one multi-core output fiber.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, the multi-core input fiber includes M cores, each core of the multi-core input fiber including optical signals of K wavelengths, where K is a natural number greater than 1.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 1, the wavelength selective switch 10 may be configured to output a plurality of optical signals of different wavelengths into N multi-core output fibers, where each multi-core output fiber includes M cores, the optical signal wavelengths in the M cores of each multi-core output fiber are the same, and M, N is a natural number greater than 1.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of other embodiments of a wavelength selective switch of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 2, the wavelength selective switch of the present disclosure may include a multicore fiber demultiplexer 11, a grating 12 including a plurality of regions, a mirror 13 including a plurality of regions, an LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon ) chip 14 including a plurality of regions, and a multicore fiber coupler 15, wherein:

the multi-core fiber demultiplexer 11 is configured to decouple the optical signals of the multi-core input fibers into multiple parallel light.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, the multi-core input fiber includes M cores, each core of the multi-core input fiber including optical signals of K wavelengths, where K is a natural number greater than 1. The routing directions of the same wavelength in different cores of the multi-core input fiber have consistency.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, routing directions of the same wavelength in different cores of a multicore input fiber have uniformity.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the multi-core fiber demultiplexer 11 may be configured to decouple the optical signal of the multi-core input fiber into M-way parallel light, where M is the number of cores of the multi-core input fiber.

And a grating 12 configured to perform optical path scattering to achieve wavelength separation of the multiple parallel light paths.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of some embodiments of a grating of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 3, the grating includes M block regions, which have the same structure since each wavelength of the M-way light has the same routing direction. The raster design of the M block areas has consistency. And M paths of parallel light pass through the grating to complete light path scattering, so that wavelength separation is realized.

And a mirror 13, wherein each area of the mirror is configured to reflect received light of a different wavelength to a corresponding area of the liquid crystal on silicon chip.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of some embodiments of a mirror of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 4, the mirror includes M areas, and the M areas of the mirror have the same structure. The mirror is also divided into M zones, each of which reflects received light of a different wavelength to a corresponding zone on the LCoS chip, as shown in fig. 4. The M areas of the mirror also have the same structural design.

The lc-on-silicon chip 14, wherein each region of the lc-on-silicon chip is configured to wavelength-route light of a different wavelength.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of some embodiments of a liquid crystal on silicon chip of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 5, the liquid crystal on silicon chip is also divided into M block areas.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 5, each region of the lc-on-silicon chip is configured to receive reflected light from a corresponding region of the mirror to perform wavelength routing of one core of the multi-core input optical fiber.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 5, the liquid crystal on silicon chip is configured to apply an electric field to each area of the liquid crystal on silicon chip, so that each pixel point of the liquid crystal layer is distorted, thereby changing a reflection angle, and further reflecting the reflected light received from the reflector to a specific position according to a designed optical path, so as to complete wavelength routing of one core in the multi-core input optical fiber.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 5, the selectable paths for each wavelength correspond to N dimensions of a Wavelength Selective Switch (WSS) in one core of a multicore input fiber, viewed laterally.

The mirror 13 is further configured to reflect the wavelength-routed light of the different wavelengths to the grating.

The grating 12 is further configured to perform optical wavelength combining in the same routing direction for the light reflected by the mirror.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the number of routing directions corresponds to N dimensions of the wavelength selective switch, where N is the number of multicore output fibers.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 2 and fig. 5, from each area (M total), different wavelengths after being routed through the LCoS chip are reflected to the grating by the reflector, and then optical wavelength combining in the same routing direction is completed by the grating, and the number of directions corresponds to N dimensions of the designed WSS.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 2, the grating 12 and the mirror 13 of the input optical path (the optical path from the multi-core fiber demultiplexer 11 to the LCoS chip 14) and the grating 12 and the mirror 13 of the output optical path (the optical path from the LCoS chip 14 to the multi-core fiber coupler 15) may be the same set of grating 12 and mirror 13.

In other embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 2, the grating 12 and the mirror 13 of the input optical path (the optical path from the multi-core fiber demultiplexer 11 to the LCoS chip 14) and the grating 12 and the mirror 13 of the output optical path (the optical path from the LCoS chip 14 to the multi-core fiber coupler 15) may be two sets of gratings 12 and mirrors 13 of the same structure.

The multi-core fiber coupler 15 is configured to couple a plurality of parallel light having the same routing direction into one multi-core output fiber.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the multi-core fiber coupler 15 may be a multi-core fiber multiplexer.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 2, M parallel light having the same direction is coupled into one multi-core fiber having M cores through a multi-core fiber coupler, the number of directions being N in total. The output optical fibers are N multi-core optical fibers and correspond to N direction dimensions.

The WSS of the related art is designed for a single-mode fiber, and the wavelength exchange capability of the multi-core fiber system cannot be realized. The WSS design based on the multi-core optical fiber can be realized, the design of ROADM (Reconfigurable Optical Add-Drop Multiplexer ) equipment in the multi-core optical fiber optical transmission network can be realized through the device, and the optical switching function of the multi-core optical fiber network is realized.

The present disclosure is illustrated by the following specific examples.

The present disclosure is that the input fiber is a multicore fiber (core number M). Each device that is passed through is divided into M regions. As shown in fig. 1 or 2, M is 4. The wavelength selective switch of the present disclosure is a WSS in 1×n dimensions, N being 9.

The same mapping path is selected for the same wavelength for each core of the multicore input fiber. For example, m=4, if there are also 20 wavelengths in each core, i.e., k=20. These wavelengths are then named 1-1,1-2,1-3, 1-4.

Then, as shown in fig. 5, the mapping of the lateral group wavelengths 1-1,2-1,3-1, 20-1, are consistent with a single-fiber input fiber, and are assigned to 9 arbitrary ports (9 arbitrary output multi-core fibers).

Each longitudinal set of wavelengths, e.g., 1-1,1-2,1-3,1-4, is a set (M) of which each falls in M regions for each device pair, as shown in any of the embodiments of fig. 3-5, with each region being uniformly selected for that set, and finally the distribution ports for the first set of wavelengths being uniform. Each longitudinal group of wavelengths will finally enter the same multi-core fiber of 9 multi-core output ports, such as the multi-core fiber with the reference number 4 (output totally 9 multi-core fibers), and 4 cores in the multi-core fiber transmit the wavelengths with the numbers 1-1,1-2,1-3 and 1-4 respectively.

Each fiber core also has 20 wavelengths, and the 20 wavelengths can be distributed into 9 multi-core output fibers at will through the grating, the lens, the LCOS chip, the lens, the grating and the output to 9 multi-core output fibers.

As a new type of optical fiber, the related art of the related art multi-core optical fiber transmission system is not mature, and the all-optical switching capability based on the multi-core optical fiber network is one of the problems to be solved urgently. The present disclosure provides a multi-core fiber based WSS optical device, which is an important component for constructing a multi-core fiber all-optical switching network.

The different cores of the multicore fibers in the present disclosure are bound within the same cladding, with the same directional constraint. The method and the device have the advantages that the service with the same wavelength in different fiber cores in the multi-core optical fiber is required to transmit the service with the same direction, the inherent limitation problem of the multi-core optical fiber can be solved, meanwhile, the grating, the reflector and the LCoS chip can be classified according to groups, and the device design and the control algorithm complexity are simplified.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of some embodiments of a wavelength selection method of the present disclosure. Preferably, the present embodiment may be performed by a wavelength selective switch of the present disclosure. The method comprises at least one of step 61 and step 62, wherein:

in step 61, the wavelength selective switch receives optical signals from a multi-core input optical fiber, wherein each core in the multi-core input optical fiber comprises optical signals of a plurality of wavelengths, and routing directions of the same wavelengths in different cores are consistent.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the multicore input fiber includes M cores.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the wavelength selective switch is a 1×n wavelength selective switch.

The wavelength selective switch outputs a plurality of different wavelength optical signals to a plurality of multi-core output fibers, coupling the plurality of optical signals each of the same wavelength into one of the multi-core output fibers, step 62.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, in step 62, the step of outputting the plurality of different wavelength optical signals to the plurality of multi-core output fibers by the wavelength selective switch may include: the wavelength selective switch outputs a plurality of optical signals with different wavelengths to N multi-core output optical fibers, wherein each multi-core output optical fiber comprises M fiber cores, the optical signals in the M fiber cores of each multi-core output optical fiber have the same wavelength, and M, N is a natural number larger than 1.

Fig. 2 also provides a schematic diagram of other embodiments of the wavelength selection method of the present disclosure. Preferably, the present embodiment may be performed by a wavelength selective switch of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 2, the wavelength selection method of the present disclosure may include at least one of step 61 and step 62, wherein:

in step 71, the wavelength selective switch receives optical signals from a multi-core input optical fiber, wherein each core in the multi-core input optical fiber comprises optical signals of a plurality of wavelengths, and routing directions of the same wavelengths in different cores are consistent.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the multicore input fiber has a core number M. The routing directions of the same wavelength in different cores of the multi-core fiber have consistency.

In step 72, the optical signals of the multicore input fibers are decoupled into a plurality of parallel light paths by means of a multicore fiber demultiplexer.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, step 72 may include: and decoupling the optical signals of the multi-core input optical fibers into M paths of parallel light through a multi-core optical fiber demultiplexer, wherein M is the number of cores of the multi-core input optical fibers.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 2, a multicore fiber is connected to a multicore fiber demultiplexer to achieve decoupling of one multicore fiber into M parallel light paths.

And 73, completing light path scattering through the grating, and realizing wavelength separation of multiple paths of parallel light.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 3, the grating includes M block regions, which have the same structure since each wavelength of the M-way light has the same routing direction. The design of the M block areas of the grating is consistent.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 3, M paths of parallel light pass through the grating to accomplish optical path scattering, thereby achieving wavelength separation.

At step 74, the received light of different wavelengths is reflected by each area of the mirror to a corresponding area of the liquid crystal on silicon chip, wherein the mirror and the liquid crystal on silicon chip each comprise a plurality of areas.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 4, the mirror includes M block areas, the M block areas of the mirror having the same structural color design.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the mirror is also divided into M areas, as shown in fig. 4, each of which reflects received light of a different wavelength to a corresponding area on the LCoS chip.

Step 75, wavelength routing is performed on light of different wavelengths through each area of the liquid crystal on silicon chip.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, step 75 may include: the wavelength routing of one core in the multi-core input optical fiber is completed by each area of the liquid crystal on silicon chip configured to receive the reflected light of the corresponding area of the reflector, wherein the liquid crystal on silicon chip is also divided into M areas, and M is the number of cores of the multi-core input optical fiber, as shown in fig. 5.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, step 75 may include: by applying an electric field to each area of the liquid crystal on silicon chip, each pixel point of the liquid crystal layer is twisted, so that the reflection angle is changed, and reflected light received from the reflecting mirror is reflected to a specific position according to a designed light path, and wavelength routing of one fiber core in the multi-core input optical fiber is completed.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 5, the selectable paths for each wavelength correspond to N dimensions of the wavelength selective switch in one core of a multi-core input fiber.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 5, M is longitudinal, corresponding to the number of cores M of the multicore fiber. N is transverse, referring to each wavelength in one fiber, and the paths that can be selected correspond to the dimensions of N WSSs.

And step 76, reflecting the light with different wavelengths after wavelength routing of the LCoS chip to the grating through the reflector, and completing the optical wavelength combination in the same routing direction through the grating.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the number of routing directions corresponds to N dimensions of the wavelength selective switch, where N is the number of multicore output fibers, as shown in fig. 5.

At step 77, a plurality of parallel light beams having the same routing direction are coupled into a multi-core output fiber through a multi-core fiber coupler.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, step 77 may include: m parallel light beams with the same direction are coupled into a multi-core output optical fiber with the number of cores of M through a multi-core optical fiber coupler, and the number of the directions is N. The output optical fibers are N multi-core output optical fibers and correspond to N direction dimensions.

The present disclosure is in the field of network technology and security (core network, IP, transport, security, hardware terminals, etc.).

The method can be applied to ultra-high-speed optical fiber transmission systems, all-optical network high-capacity transmission and intelligent operation.

The method can realize WSS design based on the multi-core optical fiber and support the multi-core optical fiber system to realize wavelength exchange capability.

The related art wavelength selective switch does not support the use of multi-core fibers, and the present disclosure proposes a wavelength selective switch that supports multi-core fiber applications.

The present disclosure provides a wavelength selective switch adapted for multi-core fiber applications.

The present disclosure may be applied to all-optical switching networks.

The present disclosure may support implementation of all-optical wavelength switching networks based on multicore fibers.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that embodiments of the present disclosure may be provided as a method, apparatus, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present disclosure may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable non-transitory storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present disclosure is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the disclosure. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

Thus far, the present disclosure has been described in detail. In order to avoid obscuring the concepts of the present disclosure, some details known in the art are not described. How to implement the solutions disclosed herein will be fully apparent to those skilled in the art from the above description.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that all or a portion of the steps implementing the above embodiments may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by a program indicating that the relevant hardware is implemented, where the program may be stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, where the storage medium may be a read-only memory, a magnetic disk or optical disk, etc.

The description of the present disclosure has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the disclosure in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the disclosure and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the disclosure for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.

Claims (15)

1. A wavelength selective switch, wherein:

a wavelength selective switch configured to receive optical signals from one multi-core input optical fiber, wherein each core in the multi-core input optical fiber comprises optical signals of a plurality of wavelengths, and routing directions of the same wavelengths in different cores are consistent; a plurality of optical signals of different wavelengths are output to a plurality of multi-core output fibers, and a plurality of optical signals of each same wavelength are coupled into one multi-core output fiber.

2. The wavelength selective switch of claim 1, wherein:

the multi-core input optical fiber comprises M fiber cores;

the wavelength selective switch is a 1 XN wavelength selective switch;

and a wavelength selective switch configured to output a plurality of optical signals of different wavelengths into N multi-core output fibers, wherein each multi-core output fiber includes M cores, and the optical signals in the M cores of each multi-core output fiber have the same wavelength, and M, N is a natural number greater than 1.

3. A wavelength selective switch according to claim 1 or 2, comprising:

a multi-core fiber demultiplexer configured to decouple optical signals of multi-core input fibers into multiple parallel light paths;

the grating is configured to complete light path scattering and realize wavelength separation of multiple paths of parallel light;

a mirror comprising a plurality of regions, wherein each region of the mirror is configured to reflect received light of a different wavelength to a corresponding region of the liquid crystal on silicon chip;

the liquid crystal on silicon chip comprises a plurality of areas, wherein each area of the liquid crystal on silicon chip is configured to carry out wavelength routing on light with different wavelengths, the reflecting mirror is further configured to reflect the light with different wavelengths after wavelength routing to the grating, and the grating is further configured to complete optical wavelength combining in the same routing direction on the light reflected by the reflecting mirror;

a multi-core fiber coupler configured to couple a plurality of parallel light having the same routing direction into one multi-core output fiber.

4. A wavelength selective switch according to claim 3, wherein:

and a multi-core fiber demultiplexer configured to decouple the optical signal of the multi-core input fiber into M parallel light, where M is the number of cores of the multi-core input fiber.

5. The wavelength selective switch of claim 4, wherein:

the grating comprises M areas, and the M areas of the grating have the same structure because each wavelength of M paths of light has the same routing direction;

the mirror includes M areas, and the M areas of the mirror have the same structure.

6. The wavelength selective switch of claim 5, wherein:

the liquid crystal on silicon chip comprises M areas;

each area of the LCOS chip is configured to receive the reflected light of the corresponding area of the reflector to complete the wavelength routing of one fiber core in the multi-core input optical fiber.

7. The wavelength selective switch of claim 6, wherein:

the liquid crystal on silicon chip is configured to apply an electric field to each area of the liquid crystal on silicon chip, so that each pixel point of the liquid crystal layer is distorted, the reflection angle is changed, reflected light received from the reflecting mirror is reflected to a specific position according to a designed light path, and wavelength routing of one fiber core in the multi-core input optical fiber is completed.

8. The wavelength selective switch of claim 6, wherein:

in one fiber core in the multi-core input optical fiber, the selectable path of each wavelength corresponds to N dimensions of a wavelength selection switch;

the number of routing directions corresponds to N dimensions of the wavelength selective switch, where N is the number of multicore output fibers.

9. A method of wavelength selection, comprising:

the wavelength selection switch receives optical signals from one multi-core input optical fiber, wherein each fiber core in the multi-core input optical fiber comprises a plurality of optical signals with wavelengths, and the routing directions of the same wavelengths in different fiber cores are consistent;

the wavelength selective switch outputs a plurality of optical signals of different wavelengths to a plurality of multi-core output fibers, and couples the plurality of optical signals of each same wavelength into one multi-core output fiber.

10. The wavelength selection method according to claim 9, wherein:

the multi-core input optical fiber comprises M fiber cores, and the wavelength selective switch is a wavelength selective switch of 1 XN;

the wavelength selective switch outputting a plurality of optical signals of different wavelengths to a plurality of multi-core output fibers includes: the wavelength selective switch outputs a plurality of optical signals with different wavelengths to N multi-core output optical fibers, wherein each multi-core output optical fiber comprises M fiber cores, the optical signals in the M fiber cores of each multi-core output optical fiber have the same wavelength, and M, N is a natural number larger than 1.

11. The wavelength selection method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the wavelength selective switch outputs a plurality of optical signals of different wavelengths to a plurality of multi-core output fibers, coupling the plurality of optical signals of each same wavelength into one multi-core output fiber comprises:

the optical signals of the multi-core input optical fibers are decoupled into multiple paths of parallel light through a multi-core optical fiber demultiplexer;

light path scattering is completed through the grating, and wavelength separation of multiple paths of parallel light is realized;

reflecting the received light with different wavelengths to corresponding areas of the LCOS chip through each area of the reflector, wherein the reflector and the LCOS chip comprise a plurality of areas;

wavelength routing is carried out on light with different wavelengths through each area of the silicon-based liquid crystal chip;

for the light with different wavelength after wavelength routing, reflecting the light to the grating through the reflecting mirror, and then completing the optical wavelength combining in the same routing direction through the grating;

multiple parallel light beams having the same routing direction are coupled into one multi-core output fiber through a multi-core fiber coupler.

12. The wavelength selection method of claim 11, wherein the decoupling the optical signal of the multicore input fiber into the plurality of parallel light paths by the multicore fiber demultiplexer comprises:

decoupling an optical signal of a multi-core input optical fiber into M paths of parallel light through a multi-core optical fiber demultiplexer, wherein M is the number of cores of the multi-core input optical fiber; the grating comprises M areas, and the M areas of the grating have the same structure because each wavelength of M paths of light has the same routing direction; the mirror includes M areas, and the M areas of the mirror have the same structure.

13. The wavelength selection method of claim 11, wherein the wavelength routing light of different wavelengths through each region of the liquid crystal on silicon chip comprises:

and each area of the liquid crystal on silicon chip is configured to receive the reflected light of the corresponding area of the reflecting mirror to complete the wavelength routing of one fiber core in the multi-core input optical fiber, wherein the liquid crystal on silicon chip comprises M areas, and M is the fiber core number of the multi-core input optical fiber.

14. The wavelength selection method of claim 11, wherein the wavelength routing light of different wavelengths through each region of the liquid crystal on silicon chip comprises:

by applying an electric field to each area of the liquid crystal on silicon chip, each pixel point of the liquid crystal layer is twisted, so that the reflection angle is changed, and reflected light received from the reflecting mirror is reflected to a specific position according to a designed light path, and wavelength routing of one fiber core in the multi-core input optical fiber is completed.

15. The wavelength selection method of claim 11, wherein:

in one fiber core in the multi-core input optical fiber, the selectable path of each wavelength corresponds to N dimensions of a wavelength selection switch;

the number of routing directions corresponds to N dimensions of the wavelength selective switch, where N is the number of multicore output fibers.