Patent ID: 7877012

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a control module configured to receive one or more input signals; and an optical selection network comprising a plurality of selection modules optically coupled to form a network, and comprising a plurality of optical input ports configured to receive respective optical waves at an operative wavelength, and at least one optical output port configured to provide an optical wave at the operative wavelength; wherein each selection module comprises at least two input ports configured to receive an optical wave in a predetermined polarization state, at least one output port configured to provide an optical wave in the predetermined polarization state, and a polarizing beam combiner configured to: receive an optical wave from a first input port in a first polarization state, receive an optical wave from a second input port rotated by a rotation element into a second polarization state, and provide a combined optical wave comprising the received optical waves; wherein the one or more input signals identify whether an optical wave is present at a given optical input port at a given instant in time relative to a time reference in at least one of the input signals; and wherein the optical selection network is configured to receive one or more control signals from the control module, and in response to the control signals, provide a high transmission path for the operative wavelength from an optical input port, determined by the input signals, to the optical output port at a predetermined time with respect to the time reference, and provide a low transmission path for the operative wavelength from each of a plurality of optical input ports, determined by the input signals, to the optical output port at the predetermined time.