1-Tb/s 18-ch photonic serial-to-parallel converter using a surface-reflection all-optical switch

We have developed a compact 18-ch all-optical serial-to-parallel converter that uses an ultrafast all-optical switch LOTOS. The converter has an on/off ratio of more than 30 dB due to a spin-polarization scheme and a temporal resolution of less than 300 fs. Other features are ultrafast operation in the 1.55-μm band due to ultrafast absorption recovery in the low-temperature-grown Be-doped InGaAs/InAlAs MQWs; low pump power because all pulses are focused on one spot; compactness due to a two-dimensional arrangement of inputs and outputs; extensibility for the number of output channels; and polarization insensitivity. We have also demonstrated a 1-Tb/s, 16-bit all-optical serial-to-parallel conversion using the packet with a 1-ps bit separation was successfully converted to parallel slow electrical pulses with a contrast ratio of more than 6 dB.