Patent ID: 6134031
Filing Date: 2000-10-17
Classification: G02B,G02F,H04Q

Abstract:
A switch for controlling a polarizing direction of incident light information in order to execute a switching operation of said incident light information, comprising:a plurality of polarization control units, which are arranged in a matrix fashion, for rotating the polarizing direction of incident light information through 90.degree. or retaining the polarizing direction thereof with no introduction of rotation, the matrix having at least a first column with a plurality of rows and a last column also having a plurality of rows;a plurality of light path routing units, each of which is arranged between members of said plurality of polarization control units for refracting the light information incident from the polarization control unit on each row in the first column toward a polarization control unit one row downward in the last column or for diffracting the light information incident from the polarization control unit on each row in the first column toward a polarization control unit one row upward in the last column, in accordance with the light information incident from the polarization control unit on each row of the first column; anda control unit for controlling said polarization control units in order to change the polarization direction of said incident light information.