Wavelength Conversion of Optically Labeled 112-Gb/s Polarization-Multiplexed RZ-QPSK Packets

Wavelength conversion (WC) based on four-wave mixing for polarization-multiplexed (PolMux) signals in an optical switching network with digital coherent detection is experimentally demonstrated for the first time. By employing a dual-pump scheme, polarization-insensitive and channel-preserving WC of optically labeled packets has been realized. The optical packet includes one payload with PolMUX return-to-zero quadrature phase-shift keying signal at 112 Gb/s and one optical label with 2.5-Gb/s on-off keying signal. The bit-error-rate performances for both payload and label are evaluated after WC in this optical network. The converted payload has less than a 2-dB optical signal-to-noise ratio penalty, while there is no obvious penalty for the converted label.