Nanophotonic switch device for routing light on a chip scale

The silicon broadband optical switch, represented by the black boxes in the figure, performs the key role of “directing traffic” within the on-chip optical network. Once the electrical signals from each processor core have been converted into pulses of light, the switch devices are set into the necessary positions, as shown by the arrows, for routing the optical messages from the transmitting core to the receiving core. Credit: IBM