Frustrated total internal reflection an alternative for optical cross-connect architectures

As wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) becomes widely deployed though the interoffice, local loop and enterprise network, optical ADD/DROP, restoration and protection switching will become a necessity to manage optical networks cost effectively. A technology refereed to as frustrated total internal reflection (FTIR) provides a very promising atternative to both mechanical and solid state optical switching. This paper will discuss the theory behind the FTIR optical switch.