An apparatus, system, and method for all-optical wavelength add-drop
switching are provided. A number of optical ports, including at least one
input port and at least one output port, are each optically coupled to a
respective dispersive element. When a multichannel optical signal is
input through an input port, an optical beam of each channel emerges from
the dispersive element at an angle depending upon its wavelength. The
beams emerging from the dispersive element pass through a bulk optical
element which redirects each beam toward a respective one of a number of
routing or switching elements, each of which has been set to redirect the
respective beam through the bulk optical element towards a selected
dispersive element coupled to a selected output port.