Patent ID: 8019185

Claim:
A unit cell comprising one optical microdisk, a separate optical phase shifter, at least two input/output optical waveguides, a first metal contact electrically coupled to said microdisk, and a second metal contact electrically coupled to said phase shifter, wherein said microdisk is programmable through said first metal contact and said phase shifter is separately programmable through said second metal contact, wherein said microdisk is connected to said phase shifter by a first input/output optical waveguide, and wherein said microdisk is optically connected to a second input/output optical waveguide; said microdisk further comprising two or more input optical ports and two or more output optical ports for optically connecting to other unit cells, wherein a first input optical port and a first output optical port are disposed on said first input/output optical waveguide, and wherein a second input optical port and a second output optical port are disposed on said second input/output optical waveguide.