A photonic fast packet switch for high-speed intra-node routing: architecture and delay analysis

A photonic fast packet switch is proposed for low-latency intra-node routing in high-speed optical networks. Applications are demonstrated in telecommunication and parallel computer environments. The switch fabric is based on integrated directional-coupler technology. It has low complexity and is geometrically suitable for real-estate efficient single-substrate implementation. The switching architecture relies on time division multiplexing an optically coupled tree-structured active routing stage. Both synchronous and asynchronous TDM operation modes are modeled and analyzed to obtain packet buffering and total switching latencies.<>