THOMAS MURPHY
Broker in Somerville, MA

5915051, Jun 22, 1999

Jan 21, 1997

8/792916

Jay N. Damask - Cambridge MA
Thomas E. Murphy - Somerville MA
Juan Ferrera - Boston MA
Michael Hong Yeol Lim - Cambridge MA
Henry I. Smith - Sudbury MA
Hermann A. Haus - Lexington MA

Massascusetts Institute of Technology - Cambridge MA

G08B 628

385 16

A wavelength-selective optical switch having a first input port for accepting a plurality of copropagating optical channels, each of the channels having a distinct wavelength band. The optical switch includes first and second output ports. A wavelength-selective optical filter is connected to receive the copropagating optical channels from the first input port to extract a selected one of the channels while allowing the remaining channels to copropagate to the first output port. An interferometric switch is connected to receive the selected extracted channel; the interferometric switch includes a controller for controlling propagation of the selected extracted channel to either the second output port, the optical filter, or both. The optical filter is connected to receive from the interferometric switch an optical channel to be combined with the remaining copropagating channels and all directed to the first output port. In a first control state of the controller, the interferometric switch is adapted to direct the selected extracted channel to the optical filter, while in a second control state of the controller, the interferometric switch is adapted to direct the selected extracted channel to the second output port.