Patent ID: 8274733

Claim:
An optical matrix switching device for switching an optical output path, the device comprising: a plurality of drive circuits to receive a control signal and output driving current according to the control signal; a plurality of semiconductor optical amplification modules each including: a semiconductor optical amplifier to output an optical signal inputted according to the driving current, and a diode electrically coupled in parallel with the semiconductor optical amplifier so that an optical leakage of the semiconductor optical amplifier is suppressed; a plurality of optical branching couplers each having a plurality of output ports; and a plurality of optical multiplexing couplers each having a plurality of input ports, wherein a same number of the semiconductor optical amplification modules as the plurality of optical branching couplers is grouped so that the grouped semiconductor optical amplification modules correspond to the optical branching couplers, wherein each of the grouped semiconductor optical amplification modules that correspond to the optical branching couplers is connected to one of the plurality of output ports of each of the plurality of optical branching couplers, and wherein the grouped semiconductor optical amplification modules output the optical signal to the plurality of input ports of the plurality of optical multiplexing couplers.