All-optical Kerr switching techniques and applications

All-optical Kerr switching techniques are described with emphasis on their potential applications to future ultrafast optical transmission systems and all-optical signal processing. Experimental results of all-optical Kerr modulation and a 50 Gb/s time-domain multiplexer/demultiplexer are presented. In addition to time-domain optical switching, an optical frequency-domain manipulation technique is proposed utilizing the XPM (cross-phase-modulation)-induced optical frequency shift in Kerr media. The method is shown to provide a wide variety of applications, including optical frequency chirp manipulation (compensation), optical routing switching, and all-optical logic operations. Switching powers and switching speeds of the Kerr switching techniques are discussed