Patent ID: 7599619

Claim:
In a WDM optical communication system that includes a plurality of nodes interconnected by communication links, a node comprising: a reconfigurable optical switch having a plurality of input ports and at least one output port; a plurality of transmitters each coupled to one of the input ports of the optical switch, each of said transmitters generating an information-bearing optical signal at a different channel wavelength from one another, said reconfigurable optical switch being adaptable to receive at any of the input ports any of the channel wavelengths at which the plurality of transmitters operate and direct said channel wavelengths to said at least one output port; at least one backup transmitter coupled to one of the input ports of the optical switch, said backup transmitter including a tunable laser tunable to any of the channel wavelengths at which the plurality of transmitters operate; wherein said reconfigurable optical switch includes; at least one wavelength selective element that selects at least one channel wavelength from among any of the channel wavelengths received at any of the input ports, wherein said at least one wavelength selective element comprises a plurality thin film filters each transmitting therethrounh a different one of the channel wavelengths and reflecting the remaining channel wavelengths; and a plurality of optical elements associated with said at least one wavelength selective element, each of said optical elements directing one of the selected channel wavelengths selected by the associated at least one wavelength selective element to said output port independently front every other channel wavelength, wherein said selected channel wavelengths directed to said output port are combined on said output port, wherein said optical elements are reflective mirrors that are selectively tiltable in a plurality of positions such that in each of the positions the mirrors reflect the channel wavelength incident thereon to the output port.