A Stacked Planar Waveguide Switching Array Technology

"The Navy requires a switched fiber optical communication technology to implement fail-safe optical interconnections and provide real-time configuration of the cable plant for in-flight diagnostics. This photonic switching implementation must be highlyscalable, accommodate at least a 32x32 or higher array in a small package. Its switching parameters have to be optimized for throughput, bandwidth, switching speed, power dissipation, packing density, and fan-out. To address this need, BroadataCommunications, Inc. (BCI) proposes to develop a unique stacked planar waveguide switching (SPAS) technology. The SPAS combines three unique technologies: (1) a stacked waveguide coupling (SWC) package that miniaturizes the optical switching device'svolume and power dissipation for a large sized switching array used for high bandwidth (>10Gb/s) data communications; (2) a waveguide grating switching (WGS) technology that allows ultrahigh speed (in the nanosecond range) switching; and (3) a resonatedgrating coupling (RGC) technology that maximizes the coupling efficiency and reduces overall insertion loss (<3dB per device). In Phase I, the concept and feasibility of this proposed SPAS network system will be developed. In addition to the Navy'soptical network applications, this technology is also applicable to many military real time sensor data collection/processing operations and mission critical C3I network applications. The proposed technol