Modified dilated Benes networks for photonic switching

A modified dilated Benes (1965) network composed of directional couplers is proposed. This structure is introduced to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) characteristics of dilated Benes networks. A new estimation of the SNR for dilated Benes networks is derived, and it is shown that this SNR is much worse than that previously known. The SNR for modified dilated Benes networks is estimated and compared to dilated Benes and other network architectures. Some other properties including the number of switching elements required, number of crossovers, and system attenuation are also derived and analyzed. Most of the characteristics are shown to be similar to dilated Benes networks and better than those of other well-known networks fabricated in Ti:LiNbO/sub 3/.