A Next-Generation Optical Packet-Switching Node Based on Hybrid III-V/Silicon Optical Gates

Abstract

We report a hybrid silicon optical gate array based on a silicon waveguide with a III-V gain medium and two vertical grating couplers. The gates show a fast switching time, a high extinction ratio, and a positive fiber-to-fiber optical gain. The dynamic behavior of such a device is evaluated under electrically controlled gating. We further focus on a single gate performance in a packet-switched network. We demonstrate subwavelength switching operations with multiformat and multibit-rate optical packet based on direct and coherent detection.Index Terms-Semiconductor optical amplifier, silicon photonic, optical gate, packet optical add/drop multiplexer, WDM packet-switched network.

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