Introduction: Requirements of the physical layer in a photonic switching network include a high channel bandwidth for the throughput of ultra-high bandwidth signals, fast switching speeds and optical processing of switching control algorithms to remove the speed bottleneck imposed by electronic processing. Integrated-optic waveguide switches offer a channel bandwidth comparable to that of the f...

The need for tunable optical transmitters in optical networking is growing at a rapid rate. A tunable optical transmitter is the combination of a tunable laser, an isolator, and a modulator. Although today lasers and modulators could be integrated together on a single chip, an integrated component of this type would not be useful because the absence of an isolator between the two elements would...

Planar waveguides have evanescent fields sensitive to index of refraction changes in the volume immediately above the waveguide surface. Optically combining one guided sensing beam with a reference beam in an interferometric configuration generates measurable signals. Applying a chemically selective film over the sensing arm of the interferometer provides the basis for a chemical sensor. Tailor...