Patent ID: 6999648

Claim:
An optical cross-connect apparatus for performing optical cross-connection of optical signals, the apparatus comprising: an input optical signal processing section for converting wavelengths contained in each input WDM signal into wavelengths the number of which is equal to the number of WDM signals, for compressing the pulse widths of the WDM signals by dividing the pulse widths by the number of the wavelengths contained in each input WDM signal, and for performing a phase shift so that the phases of a plurality of compressed signal will not be the same; a wavelength switching section including passive optical devices for distributing the optical signals processed by the input optical signal processing section according to wavelengths; and an output optical signal processing section for converting wavelengths contained in the optical signals distributed by the wavelength switching section into wavelengths recognized from the phases of the optical signals, for expanding the pulse widths of the optical signals, and for outputting WDM signals.