Optical smart-pixel-based Clos crossbar switch

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Abstract
We present the design of an optically interconnected Clos crossbar switch that uses three smart-pixel devices. This optical Clos architecture is also well matched to a space–wavelength switch that arbitrarily permutes data streams between wavelength-division multiplexed channels on an array of fibers. We have designed a hybrid complementary metal-oxide semiconductor–self-electro-optic device (CMOS–SEED) crossbar smart-pixel array for use in a 16-channel optical Clos switch. The crossbar devices also have an 8 × 8 array of multiple-quantum-well diodes that can be configured electrically as modulators with eight bit planes of randomly addressable local memory or as receivers with adjustable gain and threshold. We show that the current hybrid-SEED technology should support a 1024-channel Clos switch operating at 500 Mbits/s per channel if pixel power consumption can be reduced.