Every number has a paper.
The patents, the eight peer-reviewed papers, the testbeds, and exactly what each outside party did. Nothing on this site is claimed without a source you can open.
Patents.
One family, issued to the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona and exclusively licensed to Post-Quantum Tek.
| Patent | Title | Filed | Granted | What claim 1 covers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US 9,453,970 B2 | Reconfigurable diffractive optical switch | 2013-10-31, priority 2012-11-01 | 2016-09-27 | An N×M switch built from a two-dimensional array of micro-reflectors driven by a Fourier-transform pattern of the output layout |
| US 9,726,827 B2 | Reconfigurable diffractive optical switch and method for operating the same | 2016-08-29, divisional | 2017-08-08 | The method: compute the Fourier transform of the output layout, position the micro-reflectors to that pattern, switch in about 10 microseconds |
What the claims cover. Claim 1 of the device patent is the holographic principle itself on an array of two-position mirrors. Claim 2 names the binary micromirror device. Claims 3 and 4 cover mirrors that translate along a line under spring load, the piston-style phase-modulating array that is the path to low loss. Claim 5 covers the control electronics and software that compute the pattern from the port geometry. Claim 7 adds a dispersion compensator. Claim 8 covers two identical arrays diffracting in opposite directions for achromatic, wavelength-multiplexed operation. Claim 9 sets the switching time at about 10 microseconds. The method patent claims the Fourier-transform computation, per-input illumination of separate regions, updating the output distribution, and the two-array arrangement.
What the specification discloses. A 9×9 single-mode switch at 1550 nm on a Texas Instruments DLP7000 with 11.51 µs measured switching; isolation above 40 dB and 0.3 dB uniformity across outputs after iterative optimization; 0.25 dB loss from 2.5% failed mirrors; hitless per-input reset from precomputed look-up tables; a 775 nm piston range giving more than 80% efficiency at four levels and near 100% at ten to twenty; multicast, monitoring taps, variable attenuation, and self-realignment as pattern features; near-field or far-field operation; scaling to 144×144 with three tiled chips; and the note that a conventional mirror-tilt switch can also run the holographic method, at about 50 µs.
Inventors: Pierre-Alexandre Blanche, Nasser N. Peyghambarian, Brittany Lynn. The research was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Science Foundation, which hold the rights that federal funding carries.
Status, checked 23 October 2026: Google Patents lists both patents as active, with anticipated expiration on 31 October 2033. US utility patents stay in force only if maintenance fees are paid at 3.5, 7.5, and 11.5 years; the active status implies the 7.5-year fees were paid. The final fees fall due by 27 March 2028 for the device patent and 8 February 2029 for the method patent.
Papers.
| Paper | Venue | What was shown |
|---|---|---|
| Blanche, Carothers, Wissinger, Peyghambarian, DMD as a diffractive reconfigurable optical switch for telecommunication | Proc. SPIE 8618, 2013 | First disclosure of the concept: a micromirror array used as a diffractive, not reflective, switch so that any-to-any non-blocking switching becomes possible |
| Lynn et al., Design and preliminary implementation of an N×N diffractive all-optical fiber optic switch | IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology 31(24), 2013 | 7×7 single-mode switch at 1550 nm; 12 µs reconfiguration, "100 times faster than the currently available technology" |
| Blanche et al., Microsecond reconfigurable N×N data-communication switch using DMD | Proc. SPIE 8979, 2014 | Full C-band operation on a TI DLP7000; HD video passed through a switched channel in the NSF CIAN testbed with no measurable loss |
| Lynn et al., Microsecond regime optical cross connect: 32 port to 32 port scalable device | Proc. SPIE 8991, 2014 | 32×32 design on a 1080p micromirror array, 12 µs |
| Miles et al., 7×7 DMD-based diffractive fiber switch at 1550 nm | Optics Communications 334, 2015 | Loss, crosstalk, and polarization characterization; 2.5% dead mirrors cost 0.25 dB |
| Blanche et al., Fast non-blocking N×N optical switch using diffractive MOEMS | OFC 2015 | 32×32 ports; average 6.5 dB optical loss plus about 10 dB diffraction loss inherent to binary holograms; 0.3 dB possible with an eight-level phase array |
| Ghobadi et al., ProjecToR: agile reconfigurable data center interconnect | ACM SIGCOMM 2016, Microsoft Research and University of Arizona | Free-space rack-to-rack links reconfigured in 12 µs on a small prototype; simulations show 30 to 95% better flow completion and 25 to 40% lower cost than a folded Clos |
| Blanche, LaComb, Wang, Wu, Diffraction-based optical switching with MEMS | Applied Sciences 7(4), 2017, University of Arizona and UC Berkeley | 7 µs loss of light on DLP; 25 Gbaud QPSK passed with no degradation; crosstalk below −33 dB at 100 µm port spacing; a Berkeley piston-mode mirror array at 310 kHz with −1.4 dB loss |
Fourteen years, in order.
- 2010 to 2012
Air Force Office of Scientific Research and NSF Center for Integrated Access Networks funding supports the first work on using a micromirror array as a diffractive, rather than reflective, switch.
- Nov 2012
Provisional patent filed: "Reconfigurable Optical Switch Based on Digital Micro-Mirror Device."
- 2013
First disclosure at SPIE Photonics West. The 7×7 single-mode switch at 1550 nm is published in the Journal of Lightwave Technology: 12 µs. International patent application filed.
- 2014
Full C-band operation on a DLP7000; HD video carried through a switched channel in the NSF CIAN testbed. The 32×32 design is published. NSF I-Corps customer discovery.
- 2015
7×7 characterization in Optics Communications. OFC paper reports 32×32 ports at 6.5 dB optical loss and names the phase-modulating piston array as the path to 0.3 dB.
- 2016
US 9,453,970 granted. ProjecToR, with Microsoft Research, is published at SIGCOMM: rack-to-rack links reconfigured in 12 µs in a three-rack testbed. Department of Energy SBIR awarded.
- 2017
Divisional US 9,726,827 granted. Applied Sciences paper with UC Berkeley compares DLP, liquid crystal, and piston MEMS, and passes 25 Gbaud QPSK through the switch.
- 2023
Tech Launch Arizona forms Post-Quantum Tek to commercialize the switch, with the sole license to the patent family.
- 2026
Technical overview and investor materials published; University of Arizona announces the PQT-HOS. The next step is the commercial prototype with an engineering partner.
What each outside party did.
Microsoft Research co-authored ProjecToR and ran the prototype in a three-rack data center testbed in its lab. The published performance gains are simulation results built on measured 12 µs switching and measured loss.
UC Berkeley, Ming C. Wu's group in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, co-authored the 2017 paper and contributed the phase-modulating mirror arrays that point the way past the 10 dB loss floor.
Texas Instruments supplied the DLP micromirror chips every prototype was built on.
The NSF Center for Integrated Access Networks at the University of Arizona provided the network testbed, with Fujitsu Flashwave nodes, in which the switch carried live traffic.
None of these is an endorsement of the company, and we do not describe them as one. They are the record of who built and tested what.
What the record supports.
Measured
12 µs fiber to fiber, 7 µs loss of light, 11.51 µs in the patent's 9×9 prototype. Switches of 7, 9, and 32 ports built and run with live traffic. Isolation above 40 dB; 0.3 dB uniformity. Rate, format, and polarization independence. Loss of about 16 dB on binary micromirror chips.
Designed, not yet measured
Thousands of ports, calculated from the measured crosstalk spacing. 3 dB total loss on a phase-modulating array. Electrical power of the switch; 12 W is the sum of the parts' datasheets.