Abstract

In integrated optical space switches waveguide crossings, i.e. crossovers, become a serious issue as the network size increases. One of the most important features in designing waveguide crossings is crosstalk, which is closely related with the intersection angle between the two waveguides. In particular, crossovers imperfections along with switching elements imperfections allow that delayed replicas of the data signal reach the selected output, leading to multipath crosstalk. This phenomena has already been analysed for the Benes and dilated Benes architecture [1], but the influence of crossovers imperfections was neglected. In this paper, the influence of this interference on an Active Splitter / Active Combiner (AS/AC) architecture is considered and analysed. A relevant feature of this architecture comes from the fact that neglecting crossovers imperfections this structure becomes free of multipath crosstalk.

© 1998 IEEE