Abstract

The interest in optical switching seems to stem from several factors. One might well be cost, avoiding the need for two opto-electronic interfaces at the switching node. Further to that, in a local or campus network, the low insertion loss and bandwidth of single mode fibre offers the possibility of truly "transparent" networks, in which the format and data rate are set by the communicating terminals and the routing is achieved independently in a way that does not require synchronous or rigidly formatted data streams. Such switches may also support bidirectional operation both within the fibre and the switch. Another attribute of such technology is likely to be the provision of very large communication bandwidths as well as the usual optical advantages of low cross talk and distortion.

© 1987 Optical Society of America