Patent ID: 7469080

Claim:
An all-optical, optical cross-connect, comprising: first and second pluralities of multipart optical devices, said first plurality of multipart optical devices having at least one input port for receiving a WDM optical signal and a plurality of output ports for selectively receiving one of more wavelength components of the optical signal, said second plurality of multiport optical devices having a plurality of input ports for selectively receiving one of more wavelength components of the optical signal and at least one output port for selectively receiving one of more wavelength components of the optical signal, at least one of said first or second plurality of multipart optical devices being all-optical switches that can route every wavelength component independently of every other wavelength component; and wherein the plurality of input ports of the second plurality of multiport optical devices are optically coupled to respective ones of the plurality of output ports of the first plurality of multiport optical devices.