Polarization-independent photonic switching system using fast automatic polarization controllers

A 16*16 polarization-independent photonic switching system that uses a rapidly reconfigurable, polarization-dependent switch array in combination with fast electrooptic polarization controllers, which automatically transform the arbitrary polarization states of the incoming optical signals into the desired polarization state of the lithium niobate switch array, is reported. In a 1.7-Gb/s fiber-optic transmission experiment, it is demonstrated that the controllers are capable of stabilizing rapid polarization fluctuations of up to 500 rad/s.<>