Subnanosecond optically addressable generalized optical crossbar switch with an aggregate throughput rate of 4.2 Gbit/s

We report on a novel scheme to implement a high-performance optically addressable generalized optical crossbar switch based on Fabry–Perot nonlinear diode laser amplifiers. This approach permits fast, parallel optical reconfiguration and a potentially large switch size. By using discrete components, we have demonstrated a 1×3 optical crossbar switch with an aggregate throughput rate of 4.2 Gbit/s, and a reconfiguration time of less than 1 ns. In addition, we demonstrate wavelength conversion at bit rates up to 1.5 Gbit/s, with a facet-to-facet usable gain of 9.6 dB.