Coherent optic switching: applications and architectures

The authors list and detail several applications requiring a single stage, non-blocking, broadband, switching capability. They describe several switches, which are variants of one basic coherent optics switch architecture, to meet the requirements of those applications. The architectures will enable multiplexed carriers to be switched with minimal transit delay or distortion. The passive optic interconnect is used not only to carry the channels to be switched, but also all the necessary switch control and frequency stabilisation control information. Consequently because the optical budget also permits some of the optic combiners and splitters to be distributed, very distributed switch arrangements are possible. For the applications listed, the authors show the suitability of wavelength division optics for the control distribution and coherent optics for the switching functions