JPS644723A - Optical switch - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To switch data at a high speed to arbitrary places by setting the aperture positions of a pattern mask in such a manner that light sources on an input face emit light in accordance with two-dimensional binary input data and the light is condensed to the desired position on an output face by a hologram. CONSTITUTION:The hologram 104 is so prepd. that the light emitted from, for example, the light source 11 is condensed to photodetectors AA, AB, BA, BB. The incident light on the hologram is separated to 4 beams of the light which respectively enter patterns aa, ab, ba, bb of the pattern mask 102. The 2X2 input data can, therefore be switched parallel and independently to the 2X2 output ends if the transmittance of the pattern mask 102 is changed. In general, the number of the patterns suffices with at least n<2>Xn<2> and the number of the photodetectors on the output face with nXn if the input data are nXn. The data are thereby branched and condensed to the arbitrary places in parallel at a high speed.