Optical design of a digital switch

Abstract

An optical design of a time multiplexed nonblocking space switch is described for optically nonlinear arrays of logic devices interconnected in free space. Regular interconnects in the form of crossovers are used for interconnecting optical logic devices, and some efficiency is lost due to the strict use of regular interconnects. It is shown that for this application, the higher component count is comparable with the component count for the electronic implementation of the switch. We maintain that for a high bandwidth application such as packet switching, simple bulk optics provides a suitable medium for interconnecting optical logic devices even at high speeds, and that a more elaborate approach is not warranted.