Abstract
A shutter-based free-space optical switching architecture capable of
multicast transmission functionality has been proposed as a promising switching
technology for storage area network applications. The main idea behind this
type of switching architecture is that the system performance can be enhanced
with a new electro-optical material, used for the shutters to increase switching
speed. It can be distinguished from previous shutter-based optical switches
which have been based on single channel to single channel switching, as we
present a reconfigurable design of a 6 × 6 72-channel shutter-based optical switching core based on multimode
fiber ribbon to multimode fiber ribbon switching. The design and implementation
of a prototype 6 × 6 72-channel multimode fiber ribbon switch demonstrator utilizing
a submicrosecond PLZT-based spatial light modulator as a shutter is reported.
The light loss, crosstalk, and data switching characteristics of the implemented
fiber ribbon switch from the evaluation tests were measured and are presented.
© 2012 IEEE
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