The present invention provides an optical switch in which a switching
operation is not affected even when the polarization state of a control
light varies. The optical switch includes a loop-form optical waveguide
loop circuit formed from an optical nonlinear medium, a control light
input arrangement for inputting the control light into the optical
waveguide loop circuit and serving as a phase control arrangement, a
wavelength demultiplexing/multiplexing circuit, and a phase bias circuit.