Acousto-optic star couplers for routing and broadcasting in local area networks
Abstract
Acousto-optic deflectors are introduced to be used as star couplers that perform broadcasting and routing in local area networks. Configurations for both single-wavelength and multiwavelength broadcast-and-select networks are proposed. A routing network in which both the input and output ports are wavelength tunable is also shown. Acousto-optic devices provide these networks with the advantage of low insertion loss, simplicity, and compactness, because one device can handle a large number of ports. Analysis for these networks is presented and computed simulation results are shown. The proposed routing network is not limited to the use of acousto-optic deflectors, because conventional blazed diffraction gratings can be used.