Architecture for a class of scalable optical cross-connects

A new class of optical cross-connects (OXCs) is being proposed. These OXCs are highly scalable and possess the flexibility of 3-stage Clos networks so that various non-blocking properties, viz., rearrangeably nonblocking and strictly nonblocking (SNB) can be obtained from the same architecture. They are well-suited to implement SNB OXCs with high values of wavelength to fiber ratio, require lesser number of blocks than Clos network and support both fiber and wavelength scalability. The OXCs when implemented in three-dimensional micro-opto-electro-mechanical systems (3D MOEMS) technology provide greater advantages. A specific instance of the class of architectures is suitable for limited-range wavelength converters.