Microring resonator-based optical router for photonic networks-on-chip

We report the design and analysis of a non-blocking microring resonator-based optical switched router, which can be used as a switch node to construct a large photonic routing network on chips. The proposed optical router has sixteen microrings, fourteen crossings and four 90° waveguide bends, which could be tuned through the thermo-optic (TO) or electro-optic (EO) effect. Compared with a previously described 5 × 5 optical switching router, our router comprises fewer microring resonators (MRRs), crossings and bends, which results in a more compact design, a higher switching speed, a lower loss and a lower optical power consumption. In addition, all the rings operate at the same wavelength making it scalable to a network of any size.