Optical buffers are central elements in all-optical switched networks to avoid packet contention and loss. With actual traveling buffers, the delay time is discrete and predetermined by the length of the optical fiber delay line (FDL). Traveling buffers are bulky, since a large number of delay lines are required to handle multiple traffics. In this paper, we designed a variable optical delay line based on a re-circulating loop that is controlled by all-optical signal processing technology. We showed that a FDL based on fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) in combination with a single optical wavelength converter can realize variable delays. A simulator was developed to evaluate the performance and limitations of the proposed architecture.

Date Published: 26 October 2007
PDF: 5 pages
Proc. SPIE 6796, Photonics North 2007, 679634 (26 October 2007); doi: 10.1117/12.779116

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6796:
Photonics North 2007
John Armitage, Editor(s)