Proposed optical multicasting method using tunable lasers and cyclic AWGs

We present a wavelength-routing multicast (MC) packet switch based on simultaneous modulation of multi-wavelengths and symmetrical wavelength switching between two cyclic arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) filters and tunable lasers (TLs). The proposed method requires fewer active devices compared to conventional methods. We clarify the power budget conditions needed to apply this method, and we evaluate the switch scale for the proposed method by using the specifications of commercially supplied optical devices. The feasibility of the proposed method is demonstrated through experiments on devices.