Monolithic, Reconfigurable, Parallel, Two-Dimensional, Optical Interconnections for Optical Communications and Computing Systems.

Abstract

The development of a novel optical switching technology that uses compact, integrated optoelectronic switch arrays to provide parallel optical interconnections between electronic processing elements in a dynamically reconfigurable manner, gives rise to a very compact and very-high-information-throughput optical interconnect architecture. The technology is based on the monolithic integration of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with other photonic and electronic technologies, including heterojunction phototransistors (HPTs) and photothyristors (PNPNs), PIN and MSM photodiodes, and heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs). The integration of VCSELs with other photonic and electronic components produced novel optoelectronic devices and circuits with a host of potential applications. Combining VCSELs with heterojunction phototransistors (HPTs) and photothyristors produced high performance optical switches with alternatively latching, non-latching, or bistable switching characteristics. Latching PNPN/VCSEL switches performed programmable optical logic functions, while the non-latching HPT/VCSEL optical switches performed optical switching and spatial routing operations. Reconfigurable binary HPT/VCSEL optical switches have been designed that can spatially re-route optical data controllably to different destinations. Arrays of these switches were optically cascaded to form a multi-stage optical switching network that provided parallel, multi-point optical interconnections between electronic processors, allowing them to communicate with each other through a network of integrated optoelectronic transceivers and space-division-multiplexed optical switches at a data rate of greater than 500 Mb/s.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 1997
Accession Number
ADA325715

Entities

People

  • Julian Cheng

Organizations

  • University of New Mexico

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Bipolar Junction Transistors
  • Data Rate
  • Electronic Components
  • Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors
  • Heterojunctions
  • Optical Communications
  • Optical Interconnects
  • Optical Switching
  • Optoelectronic Devices
  • Photodiodes
  • Phototransistors
  • Surface Emitting Lasers
  • Switches
  • Switching
  • Transistors
  • Two Dimensional

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Integrated Circuit Design and Technology.
  • Optical Physics and Photonics.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Microelectronics
  • Space