HIGH-DENSITY MICROMACHINED POLYGON OPTICAL CROSSCONNECTS EXPLOITING NETWORK CONNECTION-SYMMETRY

Optical-layer crossconnects with high port count appear to be emerging as key elements for provisioning and restoration in future wavelength -division-multiplexed networks. We demonstrate here a means of achievi ng high-density optical crossconnects utilizing free-space micromachin ed optical switches that exploit connection-symmetry in core-transport networks. The micromachined polygon switches proposed here are strict ly nonblocking. Measured insertion losses of 3.1-3.5 dB for a 16 x 16 (8 x 8 bidirectional) switch suggest the promise of scaling to large p ort count.