Abstract:
A hybrid electronic optical chip has a first photonic element with which a first diode is associated, a second photonic element with which a second diode is associated and a common electrical driver connected to the first and second diodes by a common electrical connection with opposite polarity. The electrical driver generates a common electrical drive signal divided in time into first and second drive signal components for independently driving the first and second photonic elements through the common electrical connection.
Abstract:
Routing of optical paths through an optical network may account for both linear and non-linear effects of the physical layer when determining the route. The non-linear effects may be determined only as necessary, allowing the non-linear effects to be included in the routing determination for larger optical networks.
Abstract:
A method and apparatus for routing signals through a photonic switch are provided. Optical Signal-to-Noise Ratio (OSNR) requirements for signals to be concurrently routed through the switch are determined, and incoming signal routing requests are blocked when routing same would violate OSNR requirements. Blocking may occur when a maximum allowed number M of lightpaths of same wavelength would be exceeded by admitting the request. Otherwise, signals are routed along a lightpath which satisfies the OSNR requirements. Cell Extinction Ratio in conjunction with OSNR requirements can be used to determine M. Switching cells can potentially accommodate multiple lightpaths of different wavelengths, but regular switching cells may be inhibited from accommodating multiple lightpaths of same wavelength. Routing solutions which maximize both cell sharing and cell packing may be sought. Routes that violate crosstalk limitation conditions are inhibited.
Abstract:
Crosstalk can be suppressed in photonic switching fabrics by activating unused photonic elements in a manner that manipulates the inactive connections and inhibits the propagation of cross-talk over the switching fabric. For example, unused photonic elements can be set to a cross or bar configuration to block first and second order crosstalk from propagating to the output ports, thereby reducing noise in the output signals. All of the unused elements can be activated in order to maximize crosstalk suppression. Alternatively, fewer than all of the unused elements may be activated to achieve a balance between crosstalk suppression and power conservation. Photonic switch architectures can be configured to use pre-determined cross-talk suppression maps (e.g., patterns of activated unused cells) for the various switching configurations, which may be computed using a recursive algorithm.
Abstract:
A system and method for a tunable optical delay line. The tunable optical delay line comprises a coarse delay portion that provides a coarse delay amount, the coarse delay portion including a coarse delay selection element in conjunction with a coarse delay element (102), the coarse delay selection element incorporated on-chip into a photonic integrated circuit (IC) component (203), the coarse delay element (102) being disposed off-chip of the photonic IC component (203) and interconnected with the coarse delay selection element; and a fine delay element (101) that provides a fine delay amount, the fine delay element (101) interconnected in series with the coarse delay selection element, the optical delay line being tunable to a target delay amount by agglomerating the coarse and fine delay amounts.
Abstract:
Transmitter, receiver, system and method for secure data communications are provided. The transmitter encodes data as a spatial symbol in accordance with a codebook to transmit spatially encoded data through the optical channel. The receiver detects a spatial symbol from spatially encoded data received through the optical channel, and generates a data value based on a codebook and the spatial symbol.
Abstract:
Routing connections evenly through each plane of a multi-plane switch can reduce crosstalk in a switch. The routing of the connections can be parallelized in order to provide high speed routing of the connections.
Abstract:
A method and apparatus for routing received connection demands through a photonic switch having multiple parallel instances of a switching plane is provided. Routing respects the constraint that each cell of the switch accommodates a maximum of one lightpath. Connection demands are routed one at a time via switching plane instances where it is possible without violating the constraint. When a demand cannot be routed, a re-arrangement step is performed. A previously routed demand that conflicts with the blocked demand is identified and de-allocated. The blocked demand is then routed in place of this de-allocated demand, which is now considered blocked. The process repeats until no blocked demands remain. Attempts to route additional demands of lower priority can also be made by checking whether each lower priority demand can be routed given the configuration of the switch to route existing demands.
Abstract:
An optical switch comprises a first stage comprising N optical inputs, wherein N is an integer power of 2 and is 16 or greater, and N first sub-switches, wherein each first sub-switch comprises 1 of the optical inputs and 4 first outputs, and a second stage coupled to the first stage and comprising 16 second sub-switches, wherein each second sub-switch comprises M second inputs and M second outputs, and wherein M is equal to N/4.
Abstract:
A wavelength selective switch (WSS), reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer (ROADM) and methods of determining a condition of a domain network section are provided. The WSS and ROADM include a light source for sending an optical signal having a characteristic. The method comprises instructing a light source to send an optical signal across an optical link, obtaining measurements of characteristic values of the optical signal received at and sent by components along the domain network section, comparing the characteristic values to pre-defined limits, and determining the condition of the domain network section based on the characteristic values.