Abstract: An optical switching fabric enables an optical signal entering the device on any one of multiple input ports to be directed to any one of multiple output ports. The present optical switching fabrics include sensing and monitoring devices that permit precise initial calibration and continuous switch connection status monitoring and control. Light entering the switching fabric on an input port is reflected by one of a first set of individually controllable mirrors to one of a second set of individually controllable mirrors and then to a corresponding output port. The switching fabrics include control lasers and position sensing devices which provide output signals corresponding to the orientations of the mirrors. In addition, a subset of the input ports and output ports can be attached to monitor light sources and detectors for recalibration and control.

Abstract: A control system for controlling individual mirrors in a MEMS-based optical switching fabric is presented. The control system includes a position sensitive detector positioned to receive a control beam reflected from individual mirrors of a first mirror array. In some embodiments, the control beam can be time-multiplexed with a calibration beam. The position of the control beam corrected in response to the position of the calibration beam can be compared with a position calculated on the port assignment of the individual mirrors in order to provide feedback to a feed-back based control system for the individual mirrors.

Abstract: A dynamically reconfigurable optical switching system serves as a node on a fiber optic telecommunication network. The optical switching node utilizes an optical switching fabric, a switching device with multiple input ports and multiple output ports that can be controlled to direct a signal from a particular input port to a particular output port. The switching fabric is connected to optical components such as wavelength demultiplexers, wavelength multiplexers, and optical signal conditioners such as amplifiers, wavelength shifters, and signal correctors. The switching fabric is controlled via a switching node controller that includes an electrical connection to a network management infrastructure. The system architecture allows an incoming optical signal to be directed through any desired combination of optical components via multiple traversals of the switching fabric.