Design and Physical Constraints of Synthetic-Frequency Photonic Switching Fabrics
Abstract
Electro-optic frequency conversion and synthetic-frequency coupling are established functions in integrated photonic devices. Their role within a multiport switching fabric, however, depends on how simultaneous optical connections share spatial paths, frequency channels, and device controls. Here, we investigate how coherent coupling among frequency modes can be incorporated into photonic switching fabrics and identify the corresponding architectural and physical constraints. We show that synthetic-frequency coupling does not increase the number of simultaneous orthogonal frequency channels when all channels are freely accessible, but can establish connections that are otherwise blocked by fixed input frequencies, channel-continuity requirements, or unavailable output channels. Under the tested conditions, coupling over the first three frequency spacings in an 8×8 fabric with eight frequency channels per port achieves 96.1% of the blocking reduction obtained with unrestricted inter-mode coupling. We further show that a separate frequency-only conversion stage cannot replace missing spatial connectivity. A nominal reduction in spatial switching elements instead requires a joint element whose spatial state can be programmed independently for each frequency channel. Finally, we evaluate a thin-film lithium niobate resonator model using reported electro-optic coupling and photon-decay scales within a multistage Mach-Zehnder interferometer switching fabric. These results clarify the architectural role of synthetic-frequency coupling and the device-level requirements for incorporating it into integrated photonic switching fabrics.
Related
- Synthetic SU(3) non-Abelian gauge fields in photonic synthetic frequency dimensions
- Induced Directional Switching of Platicon Microcombs in Photonic Crystal Ring Resonators
- Energy-Efficient Non-Volatile Photonic Switching via Composition-Engineered Sn-Doped GST
- Photonic-Based Adaptive Spectrum Analysis of RF Signals. Application to Signal Detection by Generalized Time-Frequency Filtering
- Self-induced spin-orbit torque switching in a synthetic antiferromagnetic Co 2 MnGa /MnGa bilayer
BibTeX
@misc{parra2026design,
title = {{Design and Physical Constraints of Synthetic-Frequency Photonic Switching Fabrics}},
author = {Jorge Parra},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.01130},
eprint = {2609.01130},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.01130},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Design and Physical Constraints of Synthetic-Frequency Photonic Switching Fabrics
AU - Jorge Parra
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.01130
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.01130
AB - Electro-optic frequency conversion and synthetic-frequency coupling are established functions in integrated photonic devices. Their role within a multiport switching fabric, however, depends on how simultaneous optical connections share spatial paths, frequency channels, and device controls. Here, we investigate how coherent coupling among frequency modes can be incorporated into photonic switching fabrics and identify the corresponding architectural and physical constraints. We show that synthetic-frequency coupling does not increase the number of simultaneous orthogonal frequency channels when all channels are freely accessible, but can establish connections that are otherwise blocked by fixed input frequencies, channel-continuity requirements, or unavailable output channels. Under the tested conditions, coupling over the first three frequency spacings in an 8×8 fabric with eight frequency channels per port achieves 96.1% of the blocking reduction obtained with unrestricted inter-mode coupling. We further show that a separate frequency-only conversion stage cannot replace missing spatial connectivity. A nominal reduction in spatial switching elements instead requires a joint element whose spatial state can be programmed independently for each frequency channel. Finally, we evaluate a thin-film lithium niobate resonator model using reported electro-optic coupling and photon-decay scales within a multistage Mach-Zehnder interferometer switching fabric. These results clarify the architectural role of synthetic-frequency coupling and the device-level requirements for incorporating it into integrated photonic switching fabrics.
ER -