A new approach to implementing an optical crossbar using acoustoopics is proposed. This novel device configuration can permute an array of single mode fiber inputs to outputs without suffering from fan- in and fan-out loss, which plague other approaches. The reconfiguration time of the switching network can easily be sub microsecond, and the addressing complexity is minimal. This fiber optic switching system avoids optical to electronic conversion and can transmit ultra high bandwidth signals. The device concepts will be verified using phased array bulk acoustooptic devices. Then, a compact integrated optics module will be fabricated and optimized using surface acoustic wave based guided wave acoustooptic devices, and the SAW modules will be inserted into digital and video switching system testbed demonstrations. These SAW modules can be combined into larger networks, and photonic switching architectures that take advantage of this unique device configuration will be investigated.
