A Large-Scale Optical Circuit Switch Using Fast Wavelength-Tunable and Bandwidth-Variable Filters

We present a large-scale optical circuit switch architecture using wavelength-tunable and bandwidth-variable silicon photonic filters. The attainable switch port count is quantitatively evaluated through extensive computer simulations. The requirements for constructing a 1,024 × 1,024 optical circuit switch are analyzed on 10-, 28-, and 56-Gb/s signals. The simulation results are verified through transmission experiments.