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We investigate the performance of a chip-enhanced wavelength selective switch (EWSS) in multipass add/drop experiments. The demonstrated EWSS device uses a ring-assisted Mach–Zehnder interferometer chip as a wavelength interleaver, to preprocess the incoming super channel before launch into a commercial wavelength selective switch. We show that a 4% guardband, quadrature-phase-shift-keying encoded Nyquist wavelength division multiplexing super channel can successfully pass through seven EWSS nodes. We further investigate the number of reachable nodes with varied guardbands, showing that a modest increase in guardband can translate to a significant increase in the number of reachable EWSS nodes.

A wavelength selective switch (WSS) is proposed based on a Bragg reflector waveguide array, which has a footprint of only 2 × 6 mm2. We demonstrated arbitrary switching among 182 output ports by using a liquid crystal on silicon as a switching engine. The proposed WSS module length is only 10 cm, taking an advantage of the large angular dispersion in the Bragg reflector waveguide. Wavelength selective switching of 60 channels is carried out, exhibiting the device's excellent capability in providing ultra-large number of port count and wavelength channel operations at the same time. The crosstalk between adjacent ports are below –20 dB by a suitable alignment, which can be further improved by optimizing the module optics and alignments. The flexible lithography defined waveguide array design also reveals versatile potentials in integrating with other functional components.

We propose a new optical switch that can enable wavelength-selective high-speed switching for applications to photonic wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) Internet protocol (IP) packet routing. The switch utilizes characteristics of waveguide-type Raman amplifiers and 3-dB couplers, and so it operates all-optically at a few tens of picosecond or faster speed. The operation of the switch is studied by coupled-mode theory and is verified numerically using a beam-propagation method (BPM). As a result, we found that optical waves having arbitrary wavelengths among those of incident WDM waves are amplified and switched when the amplification rate of each waveguide-type Raman amplifier is set to the proper value by pump wave injection. Moreover, the dynamic range over 30 dB was also obtained from the simulation results of the switch.

This paper provides an overview of OFC 2003 Workshop on Wavelength Selective Switching Based Optical Networks, from the perspective of the co-organizers. The Workshop was held on Monday 24 March 2003.

A multichannel optical wavelength selective switch is investigated, which can switch signals at arbitrary wavelengths between multichannels in wavelength division multiplexing systems. It is based on the combination of an arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) multiplexer and an array of optical space-division switches. A monolithically integrated 2/spl times/2 optical wavelength selective switch is successfully fabricated for four multiplexed signals in the 1.55 /spl mu/m wavelength region. Here, an AWG and four 2/spl times/2 thermooptic switches are laid out on a 30/spl times/60 mm/sup 2/ chip. Wavelength selective switching operations for four wavelength signals between two lines are demonstrated in a time slot of 40 ms with a switching speed of 1 ms.