Photonic Fast Packet Switch with Gain

Abstract

Packet switching has become an attractive means of transferring digital information across high speed communications networks. The self-routing of packets using a photonic switch that is transparent to the optical information bandwidth [1] has several advantages over electronic switching, including flexibility of data format and the ability to avoid electronic speed bottlenecks. It has been shown [2] that in photonic packet switching data transfer rates for the information content of a packet (the payload) can be made independent of the address header data rate. Thus even for very high capacity systems, electronics can be used to detect and decode the address header and to control the routing switch. Since the address header of a packet is small compared to the payload, this approach does not significantly decrease the information transfer efficiency. Using a hybrid of optical switching and electronic control results in a flexible system which combines the advantages of both technologies.