Towards Large-Scale Fast Reprogrammable SOA-Based Photonic Integrated Switch Circuits

Abstract

Due to the exponentially increasing connectivity and bandwidth demand from the Internet, the most advanced examples of medium-scale fast reconfigurable photonic integrated switch circuits are offered by research carried out for data-and computer-communication applications, where network flexibility at a high speed and high connectivity are provided to suit network demand. Recently we have prototyped optical switching circuits using monolithic integration technology with up to several hundreds of integrated optical components per chip for high connectivity. In this paper, the current status of fast reconfigurable medium-scale indium phosphide (InP) integrated photonic switch matrices based on the use of semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) gates is reviewed, focusing on broadband and cross-connecting monolithic implementations, granting a connectivity of up to sixteen input ports, sixteen output ports, and sixty-four channels, respectively. The opportunities for increasing connectivity, enabling nanosecond order reconfigurability, and introducing distributed optical power monitoring at the physical layer are highlighted. Complementary architecture based on resonant switching elements on the same material platform are also discussed for power efficient switching. Performance projections related to the physical layer are presented and strategies for improvements are discussed in view of opening a route towards large-scale power efficient fast reprogrammable photonic integrated switching circuits.

Automatically reconfigurable optical data center network with dynamic bandwidth allocation

“…Additionally, the SOA gates in the optical switch can compensate for the broadcasting caused splitting losses, by amplifying the optical power. Thus, in this reconfigurable optical DCN, the SOA has been used as the selecting gate element in the N × N optical switches, to provide the fast (<1 ns) switching on/off operation and compensation to the broadcasting loss [24]. The schematic of the SOA-based N × N switch node used to interconnect the ToRs is shown in figure 4 with a modular structure.…”

Special Issue on Applications of Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers

“…R. Stabile in Ref. [26] reviews the current status of fast reconfigurable medium-scale Indium Phosphide (InP) integrated photonic switch matrices based on the use of SOA gates. The focus is on broadband and cross-connecting monolithic implementations that grant multi-input/output port and channel connectivity based on a packet-compliant SOA multi-stage switching matrix.…”

Hybrid optical integrator based on silicon-on-insulator platform

“…For decades, researchers aimed to find a way to control light and use it for the transmission and processing of information, an area of study known as Photonics [20]. The goal of researchers studying photonics was to deliver an analog of an integrated electronic chip that could perform all of the required computational processes using photons while being space and time efficient.…”