Patent ID: 6580849
Filing Date: 2003-06-17
Classification: G02B

Abstract:
An optical switch, comprising:optical paths organized into a set of M input optical paths and a set of N output optical paths; a faceted mirror corresponding to each one of the M input optical paths, the faceted mirror including N facets; a faceted mirror corresponding to each one of the N output optical paths the faceted mirror including M facets; a common mirror located between the input optical paths and the output optical path and facing the faceted mirrors; and a moving mechanism coupled to each faceted mirror to step the faceted mirror to selectively align one of the facets of the faceted mirror with the one of the optical paths to which the faceted mirror corresponds, in which: facets of each of the faceted mirrors corresponding to one of the sets of the optical paths are angled to reflect light to be incident on the common mirror at angles of incidence at which the common mirror reflects the light towards a different one of the faceted mirrors corresponding to the other of the sets of the optical paths.