InP-based carrier-injection optical switch for photonic switching

An InP-based optical switch operating through carrier-induced refractive index change that is suitable for large-scale integration, polarization independence, and wavelength insensitivity is described. A compact optical switch module comprising a packaged version of the 4*4 optical switch array with novel fiber arrays (APT fiber arrays) is introduced. Preliminary experimental results of the optical switch unit obtained by integration with a traveling-wave amplifier are presented. An asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch architecture is also introduced as an example of applications of the optical switch module to switch systems in which the wide bandwidth of the optical switch module was successfully utilized.<>