8-channel wavelength-selective 2/spl times/2 optical switch using phased array waveguide grating multi/demultiplexer

Summary form only given. We present a novel 2/spl times/N phased-array waveguide grating (PAWG) design, which utilizes two sets of vernier input ports to compensate center wavelength shifting due to processing. By having two corresponding sets of output waveguides, each PAWG can function as two identical 1/spl times/N-channel wavelength multi/demultiplexers. All input and output channels of the two 1/spl times/N devices are interleaved to yield uniformity and efficient interconnect to cross-bar switches. An 8-channel wavelength-selective 2/spl times/2 nonblocking optical switch is designed using two 2/spl times/8 PAWGs, connected by 12 thermal-optic (TO) cross-bar switches. This 2/spl times/2 WDM optical switch can route each input wavelength to either output ports and is suitable for any transparent optical WDM network systems.