Abstract

All-optical header replacement and wavelength shifting will be important functions in future high-capacity, dynamically-reconfigurable WDM networks in which there are more network users than available wavelengths.¹ The need for such functions arises at specific network nodes where it may be necessary to reroute a packet onto a new wavelength path and to update the header with new routing/priority information. Both wavelength (λ) shifting^2,3 and optical header replacement⁴ have been demonstrated, but not simultaneously and not without requiring long guard times. We present and demonstrate an all-optical method of simultaneous header replacement and λ-shifting, by using cross-gain compression in a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA).^2,3,5

© 1995 Optical Society of America