A space-division photonic switch which has the potential to achieve hi
gh dimensionality is presented. The proposed switch, which resembles a
collapsed network, does not use optical crosspoints; rather a dedicat
ed path is provided for all input/output port connections on a common
high-bandwidth transmission medium. This eliminates the restrictions i
mposed by 2 x 2 switching elements in classical space-division switchi
ng fabrics. The demonstration of a fully connected 120 x 120 space-div
ision time-multiplexed photonic switch is reported. The dimensionality
and blocking performance of a shared-medium photonic switch that uses
time-multiplexing is analyzed.