All-Optical Comb Switch for Multiwavelength Message Routing in Silicon Photonic Networks

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Abstract
Simultaneous all-optical switching of 20 continuous-wave wavelength channels is achieved in a microring resonator-based silicon broadband 12 comb switch. Moreover, single-channel power penalty measurements are performed during active operation of the switch at both the through and the drop output ports. A statistical characterization of the drop-port insertion losses and extinction ratios of both ports shows broad spectral uniformity, and bit-error-rate measurements during passive operation indicate a negligible increase in signal degradation as the number of wavelength channels exiting the drop port are scaled from one to 16, with peak powers of 6 dBm per channel. A high-speed broadband switching device, such as the one described here, is a crucial element for the deployment of interconnection networks based on silicon photonic integrated circuits.