Optical interconnection network using polarization-based ferroelectric liquid crystal gates

Abstract

A polarization-based 4 x 4 optical interconnection network using surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal (SSFLC) gates is demonstrated. The SSFLC gates are comprised of an SSFLC device sandwiched between two polarizing beam splitters. Optical crosstalk using these fast switching programmable devices can be limited to ~-20 dB/gate, which would allow 2-D interconnection networks to be fabricated with thirty-one input channels and 3-D interconnection networks with approximately 225 input channels.