OPTICAL SWITCHING DEVICE FOR WAVELENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEX (WDM) TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

摘要

An optical switching device (13) for use in a wavelength division multiplex (WDM) telecommunication network for optically switching wavelength carriers (i/p-1 @μl to i/p-4@μl) from a plurality of input DWDM radiation (i/p-1 to i/p-4) to a selected output (o/p-1 to o/p-4) is disclosed. The switching device (13) comprises: a plurality of optical input paths and a plurality of optical output paths; a first array (18) of individually selectably tiltable MEMS mirrors in which each mirror is for receiving optical radiation from a respective input path; and a second array (23) of individually selectably tiltable MEMS mirrors in which each mirror is for deflecting optical radiation incident thereon along a respective output path. The device is characterised in that the first and second arrays of mirrors (18, 23) are arranged on a common plane and are selectably tiltable about a single axis and a fixed reflector (24) is arranged above the two arrays of mirrors. In operation optical radiation received along each input path is deflected by its respective mirror of the first array via the fixed reflector to a selected mirror of the second array and there from to its respective output path.