MONOLITHIC OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE CROSSBARS FOR LARGE SCALE DATA SWITCHING

A METHOD OF INTEGRATING CONVENTIONAL SPATIAL LIGHT MODULAR (SLM) TECHNOLOGY WITH ADVANCED HOLOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUES IS BEING INVESTIGATED FOR OPTICAL COMPUTING USE. THIS NEW TECHNOLOGY, HOLOGRAPHIC SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATION (HSLM), SHOULD PERFORM OPERATIONS SUCH AS LOGIC GATE FUNCTIONS, DATA FAN-IN/FAN-OUT, AND WAVEFRONT RESHAPING THAT CANNOT BE PERFORMED WITH CONVENTIONAL BEAM MODULATION. CONVENTIONAL SLMS HAVE STRINGENT REQUIREMENTS SUCH AS IDEAL NONLINEAR CHARACTERISTICS AND PRE-BIAS INTENSITY LEVELS WHICH MAY BE ELIMINATED OR REDUCED WITH HSLMS. ADDITIONALLY, THE MULTIPLEXING AND STORAGE CAPABILITIES OF HSLMS ALLOW MANY FLEXIBLE AND POWERFUL OPERATIONS TO BE ACHIEVED IN A COMPACT AND RUGGED SYSTEM PACKAGE. THE INTEGRATION OF SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATION TECHNOLOGY AND HOLOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUES COULD BE USED FOR OPTICAL COMPUTING SYSTEMS, RECONFIGURABLE OPTICAL INTERCONNECTS, NEUROCOMPUTING, PATTERN RECOGNITION, AND IMAGE PROCESSING. IN THIS STUDY, A COMPACT AND RUGGED OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE CROSSBAR SWITCH, USING SURFACE RELIEF WAVEGUIDE MATERIALS, IS BEING INVESTIGATED. THE SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT OF WAVEGUIDE CROSSBAR SYSTEMS ALLOWS LARGE-SCALE SWITCHING NETWORKS (WITH N>100) TO BE FABRICATED. PROPERTIES OF THE CROSSBAR SWITCH TO BE DEVELOPED INCLUDE: ELIMINATION OF ONE-TO-MANY BEAMSPLITTERS (FAN-OUT) AND MANY-TO-ONE BEAM COMBINERS (FAN-INS); CONTROLLABLE SWITCHING EFFICIENCY; SIMPLE FABRICATION EFFICIENCY; AND HIGH LIGHT EFFICIENCY AND LOW CROSSTALK. ADDITIONALLY, THIS WAVEGUIDE CROSSBAR TECHNOLOGY IS BOTH ELECTRONICALLY AND OPTICALLY-ADDRESSABLE. IN THIS PROJECT, A SMALL-SCALE (2X2) OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE CROSSBAR WITH CONTROLLABLE SWITCHING EFFICIENCY IS BEING EVALUATED FOR DEVICE PERFORMANCE, INCLUDING CROSSTALK, BANDWIDTH, LIGHT EFFICIENCY, AND INSERTION LOSSES. THE MONOLITHIC OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE CROSSBAR SWITCH HAS APPLICATIONS IN RECONFIGURABLEINTERCONNECTIONS NETWORKS, LOCAL AREA NETWORKS, LARGE-SCALE SWITCHING NETWORKS, AND NEURAL NETWORKS.