A novel scheme for generating optical dark return-to-zero pulses and its application in a label switching optical network

Author

Yu, Jianjun ; Xu, Lei ; Yeo, Yong-Kee ; Ji, Philip Nan ; Wang, Ting ; Chang, Gee-Kung

Author_Institution

NEC Labs America, Princeton, NJ, USA

Volume

18

Issue

14

fYear

2006

fDate

7/1/2006 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1524

Lastpage

1526

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate a novel and simple method to generate a dark return-to-zero (RZ) pulse with tunable pulsewidth and extinction ratio by using a dual-arm LiNbO ₃ intensity modulator. Our experimental results show that this dark RZ pulse signal can be used in a 10-Gb/s optical packet switching system as an optical label. In addition, we demonstrate that this dark RZ label can be easily erased using the gain saturation effect in a semiconductor optical amplifier.

Keywords

intensity modulation; lithium compounds; optical fibre communication; optical modulation; optical pulse generation; optical saturation; optical tuning; packet switching; semiconductor optical amplifiers; 10 Gbit/s; LiNbO₃; LiNbO₃ intensity modulator; extinction ratio; gain saturation effect; label switching optical network; optical dark return-to-zero pulses; optical packet switching; semiconductor optical amplifier; Extinction ratio; Intensity modulation; Optical fiber networks; Optical modulation; Optical packet switching; Optical pulse generation; Optical pulses; Optical saturation; Pulse modulation; Space vector pulse width modulation; Dark-pulse generation; gain saturation effect; label erasure; optical label switching (OLS); optical network; semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2006.877615

Filename

1644795