Application of single flux quantum technology to a next-generation photonic packet switch core

Abstract

Internet traffic is still growing rapidly. Link capacity is easily increased by bundling optical fibers, but the packet switching capacity at a node is limited by the performance of a semiconductor switch facing problems of packaging density, operation speed, and power consumption. Photonic technology is therefore emerging from the link technology into the packet switch technology. A photonic packet switch can analyze the packet label optically and control optical switches, but packet scheduling must be done in the non-optical domain because photonic technology lacks arithmetic characteristics. Increases in the line speed and the number of ports will make this scheduling a bottleneck. Because single flux quantum (SFQ) circuits can operate at several tens of gigahertz, a speed comparable to optical link speed, they will be able to eliminate this bottleneck. To improve the performance of the nodes in the photonic network, we propose an SFQ-circuit-controlled optical packet switch core. Here we describe and discuss two photonic packet switch architectures using SFQ-circuit-controlled photonic switches.