A novel all-optical header processing system based on time-to-wavelength conversion

We demonstrate a novel all-optical header processing system based on time-to-wavelength conversion that requires basically four optical functions. The four optical functions are nonlinear polarization switches (NPS) based on semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA). Experimental validations show that four different headers are distinguished at four distinct outputs at the bit-rate of 10.9 Gbit/s. The asynchronous, low optical power, high-speed operation and the potential photonic integration make the system highly scalable and therefore suitable for all-optical packet switch.