Reconfigurable non-blocking four-port optical router based on microring resonators

A reconfigurable non-blocking four-port optical router with the least optical switches is demonstrated. The device is based on microring resonators tuned through thermo-optic effect. The optical signal-to-noise ratio of the device at its nine routing states is about 15 dB. A 25 Gbps data transmission has been performed on its whole 12 optical links, and 8-channel wavelength division multiplexing data transmission has been implemented to expand its communication capacity. The energy efficiency of the device is 23 fJ/bit, and the response time of the device is about 25 μs.