Experimental evaluation of the 3-D optical shuffle interconnection module of the sliding Banyan architecture

A free-space optical interconnection module for the sliding Banyan (SB) multistage interconnection network is experimentally evaluated. This three-dimensional (3-D) optical shuffle topology employs a macro-lens array in a reflective architecture. Interconnections for multiple stages are interleaved across a single two-dimensional (2-D) multichip array of "smart pixels". The experimental module implements five interleaved stages of shuffle interconnections with approximately 10 /spl mu/m resolution and 10 /spl mu/m registration accuracy across a 10/spl times/10 cm, 256 node, simulated optoelectronic (OE) backplane. The experiments demonstrate the use of conventional refractive optical elements to implement the required shuffle interconnection pattern in a SB network. The results suggest that this reflective 3-D shuffle interconnected SB approach may lead to ATM switching fabrics with aggregate throughputs scaleable to >1 Tb/s. Such a system could be implemented with vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) based smart pixel OE technology.