Abstract

The reassignment of optical data packets to wavelengths varying from packet to packet permits the design of advanced photonicswitching node architectures. For fast ATM packet switching, the use of an optical-fiber-loop buffer with multiple-wavelength access to avoid packet contention has been proposed (this approach is currently being developed in the European Project RACE 2039 ATMOS).¹ requiring dynamic wavelength reassignment to the input packets. We demonstrated this function in an all-optical implementation by using gain saturation in a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) to obtain wavelength conversion^2,3 and by using carrier switching in a step-tunable multisection distributed-Bragg-reflector (MSDBR) laser to obtain wavelength switching.

© 1993 Optical Society of America