Abstract

The crossbar network has been a popular topology for proposed guided wave optical switching systems as well as for proposed free-space optical switching and computing systems. However, these crossbar system proposals suffer from fundamental problems that may limit the overall size of the network. A new implementation of a free-space optical crossbar network (the feed forward crossbar network) is proposed which may be able to overcome these problems. One-dimensional and two-dimensional implementations are described. The resulting optical interconnections in both implementations are space-invariant interconnections, so the optical hardware requirements are minimal.

© 1990 Optical Society of America

Self-routing crossbar packet switch employing free-space optics for chip-to-chip interconnections

Thomas J. Cloonan and Anthony L. Lentine
Appl. Opt. 30(26) 3721-3733 (1991)

Components for the implementation of free-space optical crossbars

C. P. Barrett, P. Blair, G. S. Buller, D. T. Neilson, B. Robertson, E. C. Smith, M. R. Taghizadeh, and A. C. Walker
Appl. Opt. 35(35) 6934-6944 (1996)

Mirror-folded free-space crossbars with holographic implementation

M. E. Marhic and S. G. Lee
Appl. Opt. 32(32) 6438-6444 (1993)

Free-space optical crossbar network integrated in a single block of LiNbO₃ crystal

Zhe Song, Peipei Hou, Lili Fu, Liuyan Fan, Yan Gao, Yi Ding, Yuxin Wang, and Qiuju Feng
Appl. Opt. 51(9) 1328-1335 (2012)

Nested crossbar connection networks for optically interconnected processor arrays for vector–matrix multiplication

Michael R. Feldman and Clark C. Guest
Appl. Opt. 29(8) 1068-1076 (1990)