Monolithically Integrated 8 × 8 Space and Wavelength Selective Cross-Connect

The first monolithically integrated InGaAsP/InP active-passive 8 × 8 cross-connect is designed, fabricated and demonstrated. The selection functionalities in the space and wavelength domain are implemented simultaneously on a single chip. Eight broadband inputs connect to an array of 1 × 8 broadband space selection switches. Wavelength domain selection is subsequently performed with an array of eight 8 × 8 gated cyclic routers. The on-chip fan-outs and fan-ins allow the integration of 136 semiconductor optical amplifier gates and eight cyclic routers within a chip area of 14.6 × 6.7 mm² . Circuit connectivity is evaluated for the full range of paths with optical and electronic connections for 84% of the paths in this first prototype. Good spectral uniformity for the cyclic routers and loss compensation from the semiconductor optical amplifier gates allow for operation across a broad spectral range. Data routing studies are performed for a representative range of paths to show optical signal to noise ratios of greater than 30 dB/0.1 nm. Dynamically reconfigurable routing is also demonstrated for four simultaneously routed wavelengths. Switch rise and fall times are measured to be 3.8 and 3.2 ns respectively.