Optical packet switching and buffering by using all-optical signal processing methods |
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Authors: | Dorren HJS Hill MT Liu Y Calabretta N Srivatsa A Huijskens FM de Waardt H Khoe GD |
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Affiliation: | COBRA Res. Inst., Eindhoven Univ. of Technol., Netherlands; |
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Abstract: | We present a 1 /spl times/ 2 all-optical packet switch. All the processing of the header information is carried out in the optical domain. The optical headers are recognized by employing the two-pulse correlation principle in a semiconductor laser amplifier in loop optical mirror (SLALOM) configuration. The processed header information is stored in an optical flip-flop memory that is based on a symmetric configuration of two coupled lasers. The optical flip-flop memory drives a wavelength routing switch that is based on cross-gain modulation in a semiconductor optical amplifier. We also present an alternative optical packet routing concept that can be used for all-optical buffering of data packets. In this case, an optical threshold function that is based on a asymmetric configuration of two coupled lasers is used to drive a wavelength routing switch. Experimental results are presented for both the 1 /spl times/ 2 optical packet switch and the optical buffer switch. |
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