Excursion-free dynamic wavelength switching in amplified optical networks

Dynamic optical networking with rapid wavelength reconfiguration is a promising capability to support the heterogeneous, bursty traffic rapidly growing in metro-area networks. A major obstacle to realizing dynamicity in the optical layer is the channel power excursions that occur due to continuously changing input conditions into gain controlled optical amplifiers. Here we present a technique of distributing an optical signal across multiple wavelengths chosen to reduce or cancel the power dynamics so that excursion-free switching can be achieved in an optically amplified transparent network. The use of variable wavelength dwell times for excursion-free switching using arbitrary wavelength pairs is presented. Spectral efficiency lost in utilizing multiple wavelengths is recovered through time-division multiplexing two signals distributed over the same wavelengths.