Approximation to Nanosecond Optical Switching Based on Commercial Devices

Optical Packet Switching (OPS) has been proposed as the ultimate solution for Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) core networks, but it has not achieved commercial status due to numerous technological requisites such as packet tunable wavelength conversions, switching times in the order of nanoseconds, and individual wavelength switching. Nevertheless, new OPS paradigms reduce technological complexity by eliminating wavelength conversions and performing joint wavelength switching. Moreover, new interferometric optical devices capable of switching two optical signals in sub-nanosecond times are already commercially available. In this paper, we propose an all-optical switch architecture based on these devices, which switch all wavelengths as a bundle. We also perform a preliminary analysis of this architecture with some simplifications that allow us to set an upper bound on the maximum bit rate attainable in an ideal network (relaxing the need for 3R regeneration and electro-optical conversions).