Photonic components for signal routing in optical networks on chip

The design of Photonic Crystal (PhC) switching elements, necessary for the signal routing over a photonic network on chip, is reported. The PhC 1×2 switches, to be assembled into higher dimension matrices, are designed to be integrated into a wavelength router, i.e. a λ-switch. A λ-switch is capable of routing the signal to the different output ports according to the carrier wavelength. The implementation that we propose in this paper exploits PhC waveguides, broadband crossings, and PCRRs. The design criteria are pointed out and the numerical results, obtained by the Finite Difference Time Domain, are reported.