Crosstalk reduction through wavelength assignment in WDM photonic switching networks

As the deployment of wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) transmission fa cilities speeds up, the next step is to add cross-connects to route WDM sig nals, Electro-optical directional couplers (DCs) are well suited for the ta sk since they can pass WDM signals, However, DCs suffer an intrinsic crosst alk problem. Removing crosstalk has been an important design issue. In this paper, we show how to take advantage of the multiple-wavelength characteri stic of a WDM signal to reduce crosstalk in a DC-hased photonic switching s ystem.