Patent ID: 7308168

Claim:
An optical switch apparatus designed to deflect signal light from one of a plurality of input ports for switching and outputting to one of a plurality of output ports, the optical switch apparatus comprising: input side deflecting units deflecting said signal light from said input ports at an angle corresponding to a position of said output port forming an output destination, said input side deflecting units being disposed in corresponding relation to said plurality of input ports; and output side deflecting units deflecting the signal light from said input side deflecting units at an angle corresponding to a signal light guiding direction to said output ports and output them to said output ports, said output side deflecting units are disposed in corresponding relation to said plurality of output ports, wherein each of said input side deflecting units and each of said output side deflecting units are constructed in a manner such that a plurality of optical deflecting elements, each for deflecting signal light through the use of an electric field applied, are arranged in a cascade fashion such that, of said input side deflecting units, said input side deflecting unit disposed to deflect signal light from an input port closer to the input side has more optical deflecting elements each showing a deflection characteristic in a direction opposite to the input side, and of said output side deflecting units, said output side deflecting unit corresponding to an output port closer to the output side has more optical deflecting elements each showing a deflection characteristic in a direction opposite to the output side, and said optical deflecting element constituting said input side deflecting unit or said output side deflecting unit is made to variably adjust an optical coupling efficiency between said output side deflecting unit and said output port, thereby adjusting a level of signal light to be outputted from said output side deflecting unit to said output port.