N-channel optical switch and power divider

To accomplish full power transfer in an array of N active coupled waveguides, control over 2(N-1) degrees of freedom is required. This requirement is not possible in a configuration where the number of control voltages equals the number of waveguides. By using an optimization approach, almost any switching and splitting configuration can be accomplished within a high degree of accuracy. Indeed, numerical simulations for the case of N = 5, indicated crosstalks better than -20 dB for individual channel switching, and less than -16 dB for equalized power division into any subset of output ports. The experimental results on such a preliminary device are presented.