Optimization of a Switching Node for Optical Multistage Interconnection Networks

In this letter, we demonstrate a 2 times 2 switching node optimized for optical multistage interconnection networks. The optical packet-switched node is improved by making use of comparators with dual-threshold action to regenerate the routing header signal. The switching node is shown to correctly route packets with the presence of glitches in the header information. We employ a hybrid integrated semiconductor optical amplifier in the switching node that reduces packet guard times enabling a 67% increase in the number of stages for large-scale multistage networks.