Abstract
Photonic switching elements are designed from semiconductor optical amplifiers and passive couplers with fiber-to-fiber unity gain and low crosstalk. Designs for a 2*2 and an asymmetric 2*3 element, and several designs for 4*4 elements, are presented. While most amplifier analyses have stressed the importance of ultralow facet reflectivities for high-gain operation, with protection against external reflections with optical isolators, modest facet reflectivities are satisfactory for these elements. It is also shown that substantial amounts of external reflection can be tolerated. The various architectures are compared according to amplifier count, blocking characteristic, broadcast potential, noise power (amplified spontaneous emission), and fault tolerance. >
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