Reconfigurable Network Routing with Spatial Soliton Crossbar Switches

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9527241 Stegeman We will explore radical new opportunities for the application of spatial solitons to information manipulation in networks. Our ultimate goal will be to implement a hybrid, all-optical/electronic, reconfigurable NxN routing switch. Using a totally new concept will optically write bright spatial solitons which act as " guiding: channels between any two points on opposite sides of a self-focusing nonlinear material. Either TDM or WDM signals can be routed by these non-diffracting channels to interconnect abitary input and output signal paths. Furthermore, by controlling electro-optically the input soliton wavefront tilt, angular scanning of soliton channels ( and signal paths) in space will be demonstrated for connecting different inputs to different outputs on demand, i.e. a reconfigurable NxN interconnect. We will investigate the spurious deflection of spatial solitons by collisions in planar waveguides of A1GaAs and bis-paratoluene sulfonate (PTS). In fact, we have already characterized the nonlinear properties of A1GaAs waveguides, demonstrated all-optical switching devices and excited spatial solitons. Therefore these waveguides provide an excellent testbed for the new concepts involved. In parallel (with a student salary from a recent AASERT award from BMDO) we will investigate the feasibility of exciting spatial solitons in PTS which we have also recently characterized. PTS is important because it has the largest know nonresonant nonlinearity and its implementation into waveguides will lead to low-power spatial soliton generation, and ultimately interconnects. This work will be done in collaboration with Wagner at the University of Colorado Boulder. ***