Patent ID: 7142347

Claim:
An optical processing system, comprising: an optical amplifier operable to receive an input optical signal from an optical communication link and to at least partially compensate for losses in the input optical signal; a receiving device coupled to the optical amplifier and operable to receive the input optical signal, the receiving device comprising: a first wave-guide based router operable to separate the input optical signal into a first plurality of optical signal wavelengths; and a linear array of wavelength detectors operable to receive at least a portion of at least some of the first plurality of optical signal wavelengths and to convert the at least some of the first plurality of optical signal wavelengths into one or more electrical signals, wherein the first wave-guide based router and the linear array of wavelength detectors are co-located on a first semiconductor substrate; an electronic processor operable to receive at least a portion of the one or more electrical signals and to perform an electronic processing operation on at least one of the one or more electrical signals and to generate, based at least in part on the at least one processed electrical signal, a second plurality of optical signal wavelengths; a transmitting device coupled to the electronic processor and operable to receive at least a portion of the second plurality of optical signal wavelengths, the transmitting device comprising: an optical switching array comprising a linear array of modulators and operable to receive at least some of the second plurality of optical signal wavelengths, at least some of the modulators operable to perform an optical switching operation on at least some of the second plurality of optical signal wavelengths; and a second wave-guide based router operable to receive the at least some of the second plurality of optical signal wavelengths and to combine at least the at least some of the second plurality of optical signal wavelengths into an output optical signal, wherein the linear array of modulators and the second wave-guide based router are co-located on a second semiconductor substrate.