All-optical packet compression of variable length packets from 40 to 1500 B using a gated fiber loop

A scalable loop-based packet compression scheme capable of handling variable length Internet protocol packets, from 40 to 1500 B, is proposed and demonstrated. The technique uses per packet variable compression ratio to achieve fixed compressed output packet size independent of input packet size. This technique allows variable length packets to be stored in fixed delay optical buffers and has application to optical packet switching, optical multiplexing, and optical grooming. These results demonstrate the largest packet size compressed to date. Error-free compression and verification of 1500-B packets compression from 2.5 to 10 Gb/s is demonstrated with a measured power penalty of ∼2.2 dB.