Abstract

Emerging applications of lightwave technology will use wave-length-division multiplexing or optical frequency-division multiplexing to access the bandwidth of optical fiber and to provide network functions such as routing, switching, and service segregation. One possible implementation for crossconnect and packet-switched applications consists of tunable laser transmitters, a passive star coupler, and fixed-wavelength receivers ,l-5 As the emission wavelength of a transmitter laser is switched from one value to another, it may momentarily co-incide with intermediate wavelengths being used by other transmitter lasers. The resultant switching-induced interferente may degrade system performance. In this paper the implications of this interference are experimentally and theoretically assessed for CPFSK lightwave systems with both heterodyne detection and noncoherent detection.

© 1994 Optical Society of America