Demonstration and performance analysis for the off-ramp portion of an all-optical access node

Ultrafast processing of packets is demonstrated and the performance analyzed for the off-ramp portion of an all-optical access node. The off-ramp consists of synchronized fiber lasers driving an all-optical header processor that includes nonlinear optical loop mirrors (NOLM), electrooptic router, and demultiplexer in the form of a two-wavelength NOLM. We achieve switching contrasts of 10:1 for the header processor and demultiplexer with switching energies of 10 pJ and 1 pJ, respectively. Also, a proposed measurement technique to obtain eye diagrams is used to analyze the all-optical header processor using the synchronized lasers. Using this technique, we obtain an eye diagram with a Q value of 7.1±0.36, which corresponds to a worst case BER value of 8.8×10^-12 for a 95% confidence level. Finally, simulation models are used to verify and compare the experimental results, and we find good agreement. We also use the model to study the various causes for the degradation of the Q value through our system