Adding functionalities to an arrayed waveguide grating

Different functionalities for an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) configuration are described, showing that this widely used device can be designed not only to frequency multiplex/demultiplex optical channels, but also to implement the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and the discrete fractional Fourier transform (DFrFT) of a signal, in all-optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. In addition 1XN and NxN phased array switches architectures are presented, as well as a new configuration to perform polarization diversity multiplexing. Finally, a general approach is discussed to design optical modulators for any modulation format, using either phase modulators (PM) or electro-absorption modulators (EAM).