Architecture, design and physical layer modelling of an all-optical buffering system for all-optical label switched routers

We present a new scheme for all-optical contention detection and time-domain contention resolution of optical packets in label-switched routers that employ all-optical label recognition. The contention detection subsystem provides all the necessary control signals required to drive an optically-controlled buffer which employs 1times2 optical switching elements and an optical fiber delay line (FDL). The state of the buffer is dynamically controlled on a per packet basis with all the decisions and processing performed in the optical domain. Physical layer simulations show successful buffering and forwarding of 40 Gb/s optical packets with 2 dB power penalty.