Beam Steering Element and Associated Methods for Manifold Fiberoptic Switches
An optical system comprising two or more optical switches co-packaged together comprising discrete sets of input fiber ports (N per set) and an output fiber port (1 per set), wherein .lamda.n from said set of multiple input fiber ports (N) is focused on .lamda.n mirrors via the use of shared free space optics, wherein said beam steering elements steers .lamda.n from any point in the optical path to any other point; and discrete arrays of micro electromechanical system (MEMS) mirrors in a shared array, wherein a first array of MEMS mirrors is utilized to select and switch selected wavelengths from the first set of input fiber ports (N) to an output fiber port of the same set, and wherein a second array of MEMS mirrors using and sharing the same free space optics as the first MEMS array is utilized to produce yet another fiber optic switch.