Abstract

Recent advances in the field of tunable semiconductor lasers have stimulated research studies on new optical switching concepts and architectures making efficient use of the wavelength domain. In the specific case of ATM-type systems, cells (data packets) can be encoded in the wavelength domain so as to determine a physical path through the switching network (wavelength routing) [1,2]. However, the useful tuning range of semiconductor lasers is still restricted to 10-20 nm and thus the capacity of any switch fabric based on wavelength routing remains somewhat limited, in terms of number of available wavelength multiplexed channels. In order to increase further this capacity, the integrated wavelength converter (IWC), recently demonstrated by Kondo et al [3], is an attractive device which can be used, for instance, as an optical gateway between stages of a multistage wavelength switching network. Basically, the IWC is a tunable laser which is optically triggered by external light; if this external signal is carrying binary data via intensity modulation, the IWC translates the incoming signal into an image signal, the wavelength of which can be tuned by electrical means. The aim of this paper is to present new results on high speed optical triggering and wavelength switching using an IWC based on a new DBR laser featuring a saturable absorber section.

© 1991 Optical Society of America