Optical recursive implementation of the Cantor network

The spatial optical switch [or interconnection network (IN)] is one of the more successful optical elements in optical communication networks. In fact, it is one of the only commercially deployed all-optical elements and is probably the most widespread after optical fibers themselves and optical amplifiers. Low port-count switches are fairly easy to construct, but larger INs present interesting realization challenges, especially when strictly nonblocking connectivity is required. The Cantor network allows this high connectivity level, even for a large network, but it has not received much attention in the literature. Here optical implementation of the Cantor network is presented. The system is realized in a recursive manner, thus eliminating the complex static interconnection patterns usually required with this network.