Patent ID: 7720378

Claim:
An optical module, comprising: an optical gate array in which a plurality of optical gate switches each employing a semiconductor optical amplifier element are arranged in parallel; a dividing/combining unit including: a plurality of first ports, each of the first ports connected to one of the plurality of optical gate switches of said optical gate array; and a second port which performs dividing/combining of light with the first port; and an optical amplifier connected to the second port of said dividing/combining unit, wherein said optical gate array, said dividing/combing unit, and said optical amplifier are formed in an integrated manner, said optical amplifier amplifies incoming light and outputs the amplified light to the second port of said dividing/combining unit, said dividing/combining unit divides and outputs the light input from the optical amplifier to the plurality of optical gate switches via the plurality of first ports of said dividing/combining unit, and each of the plurality of optical gate switches of said dividing/combining unit let one of a plurality of light beams, which are divided and output from said dividing/combining unit, pass therethrough and then be output.