Crosstalk-Aware Wavelength-Switched All-to-All Optical Interconnect Using Sub-Optimal AWGRs

We propose a crosstalk (XT)-aware wavelength (λ)-detuning scheme to overcome the non-optimal in-band XT limiting all-to-all optical interconnects based on sub-optimal arrayed waveguide grating routers (AWGR). Experimental validation is demonstrated employing an 8 × 8 O-band cyclic Si-AWGR with 10 nm channel spacing and a 5.5 nm channel bandwidth, where the in-band XT limits the simultaneous use of the same λ in only 2 out of the 8 possible AWGR I/O routing scenarios, yielding a 10-7error-floor when >3 channels at the same λ are launched. We present experimentally an 8 × 25 Gb/s λ-switched interconnect exploiting slightly detuned λ s around the central λ for realizing all 8 possible I/O routing scenarios, enabling an error-free all-to-all interconnect even for sub-optimal AWGRs. Error-free simultaneous transmission via the AWGR of all 8 channels using 4λs and a λ utilization factor 2 is shown, with a max. power penalty of 4.64 dB at 10-9error-rate.