Cross talk-limited cascadability of different OXC architectures

Optical cross connects (OXC) are likely to play a key role in future all-optical networks. Their core is a space switching matrix, whose properties heavily influence the overall OXC performance. Particular attention is paid to homodyne crosstalk which accumulates through subsequent filtering.The aim of this work is to experimentally evaluate cross-talk impact on OXC cascadability. A short recirculating loop simulates a 2.5 Gbit/s signal propagating through 100 km-long links connected by OXC (i.e. a meshed continental network) adding homodyne incoherent cross-tal