US 11,906,823 B2
Reconfigurable port arrays for wavelength selectable switch
Guomin Jiang, Fremont, CA (US); Helen Chen, Cupertino, CA (US); Haiji J. Yuan, Cupertino, CA (US); Lixin Wang, Fremont, CA (US); WenYi Cao, Shanghai (CN); Xuewen Lu, San Jose, CA (US); Qingyu Li, Cupertino, CA (US); and Yimin Ji, Irvine, CA (US)
Assigned to II-VI Delaware, Inc., Wilmington, DE (US)
Filed by II-VI Delaware, Inc., Wilmington, DE (US)
Filed on Apr. 20, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/235,168.
Prior Publication US 2022/0334416 A1, Oct. 20, 2022
Int. Cl. G02F 1/01 (2006.01); G02F 1/133 (2006.01)
CPC G02F 1/0136 (2013.01) [G02F 1/13306 (2013.01); G02F 2201/18 (2013.01); G02F 2203/055 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A reconfigurable port interface for a wavelength selectable switch (WSS), comprising:
a plurality of optical signal coupling ports, at least one port for receiving an optical input signal and at least one port for transmitting an optical output signal;
a birefringent walk-off plate disposed adjacent to the plurality of optical signal coupling ports, the birefringent walk-off plate performing spatial separation of orthogonal polarizations of the optical input signal and spatial recombination of parallel polarizations of the optical output signal; and
a polarization rotator array positioned to intercept optical signals exiting and entering the birefringent walk-off plate, the polarization rotator array including
a plurality of liquid crystal (LC) microcells, each individual LC microcell separately addressable by a control voltage input to provide one of 90° polarization rotation via a first applied voltage, and 0° polarization rotation via a second applied voltage; and
a plurality of control electrodes coupled to the plurality of LC microcells in a one-to-one relationship, wherein first selected groups of adjacent LC microcells are held at the first applied voltage to configure a 90° polarization window and second selected groups of adjacent LC microcells are held at the second applied voltage to configure a 0° polarization window, defining a specific port arrangement of the WSS, the number of individual LC microcells forming the first and second groups selected to define a window size for the defined specific port arrangement.