Two-wavelength photorefractive dynamic optical interconnect

A novel architecture for a reconfigurable optical routing switch using photorefractive crystals with nondestructive readout is presented. This design reduces the order of complexity from n(2) to n for a general two-wavelength n x n holographic interconnection network. The packing capacity of the network is discussed and is calculated to be of the order of 1000 x 1000 for an ideal volume holographic recording material. In practice, we show that the actual value is constrained by the number of gratings that can be multiplexed in a single photorefractive crystal. A 2 x 3 switch is demonstrated by using a Bi(12)GeO(20) crystal with 514-nm writing beams and 633-nm signal (readout) beams.