Abstract

Low-cost, fast-tunable wavelength selectors or filters are essential to packet-switched WDMA networks. One of the most promising fast-tunable wavelength-selector schemes is to combine a wavelength demultiplexer (such as a grating), a photodetector array, and electronic selector fabrics, followed by the receiver and the timing-recovery circuits.¹ This scheme, which spatially resolves and subsequently selects one or more of the received signals from the incoming wavelength channels electronically, has the advantage of the high-speed capability offered by the electronic channel selection. Here, we present a complete subsystem design, with various design trade-offs, for a tunable receiver based on a packet-switched medium-access protocol.²

© 1995 Optical Society of America