Abstract

Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is expected to be the foundation on which future broadband integrated services digital networks (ISDN’s) is built because of its advantages of integrated switching and transport capability, universal interface, and network flexibility. The introduction of photonics in ATM networks is expected to substantially increase switching speed and capability. An optical cell compressor/expander, which generates ultrafast optical cells and reconstitutes them to the original low-bit-rate bulk data stream, is one of the key devices for realizing ultrafast photonic ATM networks.¹ Here we report on an ultrafast all-optical cell expander for photonic ATM networks.

© 1991 Optical Society of America