Integrated Optoelectronic Switching Technology for Fiber-Optic Communications Networks

Abstract

Optical switching can be performed by using optical amplifiers combined with a passive waveguiding network. Recently. most of the effort in optical amplifier switch modules have been focused on monolithic switches in which the entire device is fabricated on an InP substrate together with the semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs). In this paper, we investigate the use of SOAs with passive polymer waveguides to make hybrid switches of varying sizes. The optical amplifiers serve a dual purpose. The SOAs are used in order to gate the signal and amplify the signal in order to offset the losses associated with the passive waveguide elements as well as the losses from component misalignments in the switch module. Our analysis finds the largest switch module size that can be made with the architecture used. We also calculate the maximum number of switch modules which can be cascaded in order to retain a bit error rate (BER) under 10(exp -9).

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 23, 1998
Accession Number
ADA364356

Entities

People

  • R. Brian Hooker
  • Regis Fan

Organizations

  • University of Colorado Boulder

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Amplifiers
  • Communication Systems
  • Electronics
  • Fabrication
  • Fiber-Optic Communications
  • Flip Chips
  • Misalignment
  • Optical Communications
  • Optical Switching
  • Refractive Index
  • Semiconductors
  • Silicon Compounds
  • Substrates
  • Switches
  • Switching
  • Three Dimensional
  • Waveguides

Readers

  • Microwave Engineering.
  • Optical Physics and Photonics.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics