A selective-broadcast passive star coupler for self-routing dense wavelength division multiplexed optical networks

The authors describe a technique for design and implementation of a selective-broadcast passive optical star coupler, that uses a space-varying refractive-index slab. A network traffic routing matrix can be incorporated in the design fabric of this bandwidth-selective coupler. The matrix may resemble any desired physical cross connection for routing user traffic. As an example, the authors show how a perfect shuffle network connectivity can be built into the fabric of a passive star coupler. A wave-mixing method is proposed to configure such a coupler. With this implementation, the authors have realized the physical connectivity appropriate for any desired routing matrix in dense wavelength division multiplexed optical star network applications