Abstract
We design a lossless 8 × 8 Silicon Photonics (SiPh)/Indium Phosphide (InP) hybrid optical switch. The design consists of an 8-channel InP gain block for coupling to an 8 × 8 thermally tuned Mach-Zehnder interferometer-based Banyan switch in a passive SiPh platform. The gain block is an array of eight 1300 μm-long semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs). We experimentally verified the InP gain block while the SiPh chip is accounted by replacing it with a loss component. The SOA in line with the optical signal path provides a net gain larger than 25 dB to compensate for the inherently large insertion loss of the 8 × 8 SiPh optical switch. The total energy consumption of the hybrid optical switch in lossless operation mode is 10.44 pJ/bit at 12.5 Gb/s.
Highlights
T HE ever-growing internet traffic asks for the increase in the capacity and energy efficiency of the generation data centers [1]
In a Silicon Photonics (SiPh)/Indium Phosphide (InP) hybrid optical switch, routing the optical signal from an input port to the desired output port is on the SiPh chip, while the InP gain block provides amplification required for compensation of the insertion loss
We demonstrate the feasibility of a lossless operation of an 8 × 8 SiPh Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI)-based Banyan optical switch with thermal phase shifters coupled to an 8-channel InP gain block
Summary
T HE ever-growing internet traffic asks for the increase in the capacity and energy efficiency of the generation data centers [1]. Advanced data center applications demand high radix switches to connect the servers at different network levels. This requires cascaded multiple input—multiple output port optical switch architecture, which, inevitably leads to significant insertion loss. Optical switches in SiPh incur substantial insertion loss, while not providing any practical mechanism for its compensation, by virtue of an indirect bandgap semiconductor inherently incapable of inter-band gain. In a SiPh/InP hybrid optical switch, routing the optical signal from an input port to the desired output port is on the SiPh chip, while the InP gain block provides amplification required for compensation of the insertion loss. The OSNR at the output of the gain block is sufficient for a distortion-free 12.5 Gb/s optical data transmission
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