Optical switching technology is emerging as a solution to the limitations of traditional electronic switching. Combining optical switching with mode‐division multiplexing effectively overcomes the limitations of expanding switching capacity solely by increasing the number of ports. This paper introduces a compact four‐mode 2 × 2 optical switch and a four‐mode reconfigurable non‐blocking 4 × 4 optical switch matrix based on the Beneš architecture. The multimode 2 × 2 switch achieves an extinction ratio larger than 15 dB for all modes in the wavelength range of 1530–1590 nm. The multimode 4 × 4 switch matrix has an extinction ratio exceeding 9 dB for all modes and states in the C‐band, with a compact size (1.46 × 0.23 mm2) and low power consumption (0–154 mW). It supports high‐integrity 50 Gbaud PAM4 signal transmission with a bit error rate below the forward error correction limit. These devices pave the way for enhanced integration density and capacity in optical switching systems.

中文翻译：

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大规模高密度多模光开关矩阵


光开关技术的出现是为了解决传统电子开关的局限性。将光交换与模分复用相结合，有效克服了单纯通过增加端口数量来扩展交换容量的局限性。本文介绍了一种基于Beneš架构的紧凑型四模2×2光开关和四模可重构非阻塞4×4光开关矩阵。多模 2 × 2 开关对于 1530–1590 nm 波长范围内的所有模式实现了大于 15 dB 的消光比。多模 4 × 4 开关矩阵在 C 波段所有模式和状态下的消光比均超过 9 dB，且尺寸紧凑 (1.46 × 0.23 mm2) 和低功耗 (0–154 mW)。它支持高完整性 50 Gbaud PAM4 信号传输，误码率低于前向纠错限制。这些器件为提高光交换系统的集成密度和容量铺平了道路。