The inventors propose herein a switch fabric architecture that allows
broadcasting and fast channel access in the ns-range. In various
embodiments of the present invention, 10 Gb/s receiver modules are based
on a novel heterodyne receiver and detection technique, which is tolerant
to moderate wavelength drifts of a local oscillator. A gain clipped
electrical amplifier is used in the novel receiver as a rectifier for
bandpass signal recovery.