METHOD OF SWITCHING N×N OPTICAL CHANNELS AND MULTICHANNEL SWITCH Russian patent published in 2012 - IPC G02F1/315 G02F1/65 

FIELD: physics.

SUBSTANCE: switch includes a device for addressing signals, doubling optical flux, detecting presence or absence of an optical signal in the channels, as well as an active element made from electro-optic material with waveguide channels connected to control electrodes and fibre-optic cables, which employs change in total internal reflection in a waveguide channel when control voltage is applied across corresponding contacts. The disclosed device realises a method of switching NxN optical channels.

EFFECT: connecting input and output optical channels without crossing fibre-optic and electrical cables with maximum parallelism.

7 cl, 6 dwg