Patent ID: 7639906

Claim:
A DWDM optical communication transmission system, comprising: a plurality of nodes interconnected by an optical transmission path; an optical wavelength routing device, said optical wavelength routing device including: a) at least one optical fiber input; b) at least two optical fiber outputs; c) an optical element having an actuator with at least one tilt axis; d) a diffraction element having a surface thereon; e) an optical beam-splitting element having spatially varying optical properties; f) an optical beam transfer arrangement positioned between the optical element and the diffraction element such that tilt actuation of the optical element elicits a proportional change in an angle of incidence of the optical beam onto the diffraction element, wherein the center of rotation for the angular change is the surface of the diffraction element; wherein optical routing between the fiber input and any of the fiber outputs can be configured by the positioning of the optical element; and wherein one of the fiber outputs selectively routes wavelengths along an express path through a node to a subsequent node, and the other of the fiber outputs routes drop optical traffic at that node.