Compact electronically aligned broadcast-enhanced all-optical switch

All-optical switches are used for many different applications. Broadcast-enhanced switches allow connection of a single input channel to numerous output channels, thus increasing further the possible application span. A compact multichannel all-optical broadcast-enhanced switch is described. This switch setup allows electronic alignment thus requires only simple construction procedures. A special importance of the proposed switch is for multistage interconnection networks where the alignment plays a major role. The switch structure is described and experimentally demonstrated.