Optical apparatus that uses optically-actuated optical switches in conjunction with an optical codeword addressing scheme to provide for time division multiplexing and demultiplexing of high data rate optical data. Optical codewords traveling simultaneously with the data on a separate wavelength, in conjunction with the optical switches, enable all-optical multiplexing and demultiplexing. The present invention can also switch packets of data while keeping the data entirely in the optical domain, and no optical to electrical conversions are necessary.