Optical interconnect for switch applications

A switch module comprising:

• a switch integrated circuit (IC) configured to receive and transmit electrical signals, with the electrical signals routed between various inputs and outputs of the switch IC;
• a silicon photonics chip coupled to the switch IC, the silicon photonics IC configured to convert optical signals to electrical signals provided to the switch IC and to modulate light from a light source based on electrical signals received from the switch IC;
• a planar lightwave circuit (PLC) chip comprising:
• a plurality of first waveguides, each configured to receive light from at least one of a plurality of light sources and output the at least one of the plurality of light sources to the silicon photonics chip;
• and
• a multiplexer having a plurality of inputs and an output, the multiplexer configured to produce an optical signal on a wavelength selective basis using modulated light provided by the silicon photonics chip.

A switch package, comprising:

• a central package comprising:
• a switch integrated circuit (IC) chip including a switch for routing electrical inputs to electrical outputs of the switch IC chip, and a plurality of optical/electrical (OE) conversion modules to convert input optical signals to the electrical inputs of the switch IC chip and to convert the electrical outputs of the switch IC chip to output optical signals;
• and
• a plurality of fiber links for carrying optical signals coupling the OE conversion modules to a front panel of a switch enclosure.