ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSFER MODE DISTRIBUTION NETWORK BY USE OF AN OPTOELECTRONIC VLSI SWITCHING CHIP

We describe a new optoelectronic switching system demonstration that i mplements part of the distribution fabric for a large asynchronous tra nsfer mode (ATM) switch. The system uses a single optoelectronic VLSI modulator-based switching chip with more than 4000 optical input-outpu ts. The optical system images the input fibers from a two-dimensional fiber bundle onto this chip. A new optomechanical design allows the sy stem to be mounted in a standard electronic equipment frame. A large s ection of the switch was operated as a 208-Mbits/s time-multiplexed sp ace switch, which can serve as part of an ATM snitch by use of an appr opriate out-of-band controller. A larger section with 896 input light beams and 256 output beams was operated at 160 Mbits/s as a slowly rec onfigurable space switch. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.