Patent ID: 7013060

Claim:
A method of cross-connecting a plurality of input light signals incoming from a plurality of inlet optical waveguides to a plurality of outlet optical waveguides, the method comprising the steps of: a) preparing a holographic filter having a series of preformed different speckle patterns in a series of regions thereof having said plurality of outlet optical waveguides associated therewith, respectively; b) passing the input light signals, each carried by a laser beam, through a plurality of inlet passages of a multimode optical waveguide, respectively, with different control voltages applied across them, respectively, to form different speckle patterns associated with those laser beams, respectively, and c) introducing the laser beams past the respective inlet passages, and then past a single outlet passage, of said multimode optical waveguide, into said holographic filter wherein coincidence of a said formed speckle pattern with a said preformed speckle pattern in a said region of the holographic filter allows a said input light signal associated with the said formed coincident speckle pattern to be selectively switched, addressed and cross-connected to a said output optical waveguide that is associated with the said coincident region of the holographic filter.