All-Optical-Packet Header and Payload Separation for Unslotted Optical-Packet-Switched Networks

A novel all-optical header and payload separation technique that can be utilized in unslotted optical-packet-switched networks is proposed. The technique uses two modified terahertz optical asynchronous demultiplexers: One is for packet header extraction with differential modulation scheme, and the other performs a simple XOR operation between the packet and its self-derived header to get the separated payload. The main virtue of this system is simple structure and low-power consumption. Through numerical simulations, the operating characteristics of the scheme are illustrated. In addition, the parameters of the system are discussed and designed to optimize the performance of the scheme.