Multicast-Enabling Optical Switch Design Employing Si Buffering and Routing Elements

Abstract

We demonstrate experimentally an optical switch architecture that employs $\mu \text{m}$ -silicon-on-insulator (SOI)-based circuitry for both buffering and routing purposes and operates with 10-Gb/s optical packets in both uni- and multi-cast switching forwarding modes. It comprises a hybrid broadcast-and-select (BS)/wavelength-routed architecture, with the BS layout being responsible for identifying the desired cluster of outgoing ports, while the wavelength-routed switch part forwards then the data to the specific outgoing port. Contention resolution at the BS switch part is offered through an $\mu \text{m}$ -SOI integrated optical delay line bank and wavelength-routing is realized by means of a $\mu \text{m}$ -SOI $3\times 3$ echelle grating router, while semiconductor optical amplifier Mach-Zehnder interferometers are employed for wavelength conversion purposes. The switch architecture has been experimentally validated with 10-Gb/s optical data packets for both uni- and multicasting operation, revealing error-free performance with <5-dB power penalty.