Acousto-Optic Photonic Switch: An Optical Crossbar Architecture.

摘要

A crossbar switch architecture is based on acousto-optic beam deflection. The architecture has O(N) hardware complexity throughout, while exhibiting minimal insertion loss, low crosstalk, and fast reconfiguration. Because of the small amount of signal degradation imposed by this switch, it is suitable for nonregenerative applications within fiber-optic networks. By increasing hardware complexity, broadcasting can also be achieved within the framework of this architecture. We report experimental performance of a 1x4 switching element. Insertion loss ranges from 2 - 6 decibels, worst-case signal-to-crosstalk ratios are in excess of 30 dB, and reconfiguration times are on the order of one microsecond. Keywords: Reprints, Optics, Acoustics, Computer hardware, Connectivity, Nonblocking switch, Broadcasting information, Multicasting, Interconnections. (JG)