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Proceedings Paper

Absorptive nonlinear semiconductor amplifiers for fast optical switching
Author(s): Peter E. Barnsley; Ian Marshall; Phillip J. Fiddyment; Michael J. Robertson
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Paper Abstract

We demonstrate optical switching using split contact semiconductor absorptive nonlinear optical amplifiers. All-optical time switching of 500 MBit/s data with a rise time of 100 ps has been demonstrated. Fall times of 85ps can be achieved by reverse biasing the absorber section of the amplifier. The switch had a minimum switching threshold of 1 iW a switch gain of 1O dB and can operate over a 60 nm wavelength range around 1 . 55pm. Such a switch may be suitable for application in packet switched networks with multi-GBit/s header speeds. Wavelength switching using the same nonlinear amplifier is also demonstrated. 400 MBit/s data was converted over 35THz from 1 . 3 1im to wavelengths between 1 . 53 . tm and 1 . 585 pm. The minimum power at 1 . 3 1 jim required was ''60 iW. Such nonlinear optical amplifiers can give added flexibility in both TDM and WDM systems and are therefore likely to play a major role in future all-optical networks.

Paper Details

Date Published: 1 March 1991
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 1378, Optically Activated Switching, (1 March 1991); doi: 10.1117/12.25046
Show Author Affiliations
Peter E. Barnsley, British Telecom Research Labs. (United Kingdom)
Ian Marshall, British Telecom Research Labs. (United Kingdom)
Phillip J. Fiddyment, British Telecom Research Labs. (United Kingdom)
Michael J. Robertson, British Telecom Research Labs. (United Kingdom)


Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1378:
Optically Activated Switching
Fred J. Zutavern, Editor(s)

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