Using All-Optical Wavelength Conversion for Routing in Optical Local Area Networks

摘要

All-optical wavelength conversion is a process that is used to reduce the number of optical-electrical-optical (O-E-O) conversions in an optical network. Limiting O-E-O conversions reduces latency for signals propagating through the network. The focus of this project is to implement all- optical wavelength conversion in the physical layer of an optical local area network (LAN) to observe its effect on system performance. Several types of wavelength converters have been considered for such a network specifically those using cross-gain modulation (XGM) cross-phase modulation (XPM) four wave mixing (FWM) and difference frequency generation (DFG). Particular attention is paid to the effect on latency bit error rate (BER) and analog spur free dynamic range (SFDR). Analyses have been done using both computer simulation and a hardware test bed emphasizing XGM and XPM converters. Ultimately all-optical wavelength converters are desired for use in mixed signal networks where both analog and digital data propagate through the network. As a baseline measurements taken on a particular wavelength division multiplexed LAN indicate the capacity to handle 10 Gbps digital signals and analog operation with a spur free dynamic range (SFDR) of 113 dB-Hz2/3 before wavelength conversion. This project examines the effect of wavelength conversion in a mixed signal environment with an emphasis on reducing network latency without significantly compromising network performance as measured by BER and SFDR.