Fast Dynamic Control of Optical Data Center Networks Based on Nanoseconds WDM Photonics Integrated Switches

We demonstrate a fast and dynamic control of photonic switches based DCN by a distributed optical-flow control. Results show error-free 10 Gb/s switching with <; 2dB penalty, no packet-loss at switch and 260.66ns end-to-end latency.

I. Introduction

With the emerging of cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and the incoming of 5G mobile communications, the traffic communications inside the data centers (DC) are imposed stringent requirements in terms of low latency, high capacity, and high cost and power-efficiency [1]. With the aim to satisfy the scalable growth in both network traffic volume and connected endpoints while decreasing the cost and the energy consumption, transparent optical DC networks (DCNs) based on fast optical switches have been considered, featuring the data rate and format transparency and eliminating the power consuming O/E/O conversions [2].