Stable operation of silicon photonic switches in field-deployed optical path network

Abstract

Optical switches based on silicon (Si) nanowire waveguide exhibit stable performance without active control of operating point owing to its extremely small size. To verify reliability, we carried out simultaneous operation of two Si-nanowire 8 × 8 optical switches in the optical path network that was deployed in Tokyo metropolitan area using dark fibres. System performance was studied transmitting 10-Gb/s WDM signals over two optical paths that were configured in a way that transmitted signals went through the 8 × 8 switches 10 times. Error free performance was achieved over a week without any adjustment of the switches.