A novel dynamic wavelength cross-connect based on Mach-Zehnder interferometer optical add/drop multiplexer and optical space switch

We have proposed a novel dynamic WXC based on MZI-OADM. The advantages of this dynamic WXC are very low differential insertion loss, using less exchanging units than reported structures, and the ability to be integrated. In experiment, the three channels from the path with maximum OADMs in a 2/spl times/2 dynamic WXC capable of exchanging five wavelengths show negligible power penalty at BER of 10/sup -9/. The above advantages make this kind of dynamic WXC very promising for future WDM networks.