Abstract

Photonic switching systems generally can be divided into three categories: space-division (SD), time-division (TD), and wavelength-division (WD). A particularly important target for a photonic switching system is to accommodate large line capacity video information (about 150Mb/s). In order to realize such a system, it is necessary to combine the three methods, because it is difficult for an individual method to achieve sufficient multiplexity. A combined TD and WD switching system is an effective method, however. The multiplexity of such a system is given by the product of TD multiplexity and WD multiplexity. Moreover, it has been reported that a wavelength and time hybrid switch (W&T hybrid switch) can reduce the number of optical memories required compared to the equivalent S-T-S TD switch [1].

© 1991 Optical Society of America