Concurrent generation of an optical code label and payload data by use of phase and intensity modulators for all-optical packet switching.

We propose and experimentally demonstrate the concurrent generation of an optical code label and payload data by use of off-the-shelf optical intensity and phase modulators in a tandem structure. This technique is capable of reconfigurable generation of an arbitrarily long optical code label of phase-shift keying concurrently with the generation of payload data, without the need for a special class of optical encoder. This technique will be powerful for all-optical packet switching networks, based on scalability and compactness, for optical code labels.

High-performance optical code generation and recognition by use of a 511-chip, 640-Gchip/s phase-shifted superstructured fiber Bragg grating.

The generation and recognition of a record-length 511-chip optical code is experimentally demonstrated by use of a superstructured fiber Bragg grating (SSFBG) with a chip rate of 640 Gchips/s. Very high reflectivity (92%) is achieved with high-quality correlation properties. The temperature deviation tolerance is approximately +/- 0.3 degrees C, which is within the package's temperature stability range (+/- 0.1 degrees C). Experimental results show good agreement with the theory. They indicate the SSFBG's potential for processing a long optical code with an ultrahigh chip rate, which could significantly improve the system's performance.

Nanometric summation architecture based on optical near-field interaction between quantum dots.

A nanoscale data summation architecture is proposed and experimentally demonstrated based on the optical near-field interaction between quantum dots. Based on local electromagnetic interactions between a few nanometric elements via optical near fields, we can combine multiple excitations at a certain quantum dot, which allows construction of a summation architecture. Summation plays a key role for content-addressable memory, which is one of the most important functions in optical networks.

High-bandwidth measurement of femtosecond optical pulse timing based on two-dimensional transmission gating and parallel processing.

We demonstrate a high-bandwidth, precision timing measurement technique using a surface-normal two-dimensional (2D) all-optical switch and a parallel computational sensor array to achieve high-density, parallel extraction of timing information of femtosecond optical pulses. Optoelectronic parallel processing eliminates the bottleneck of conventional systems and achieves femtosecond precision and robust timing extraction using a simple on-chip algorithm. The timing fluctuation of 1- kHz, 100-fs optical pulses was extracted on a pulse-by-pulse basis.

Terabit all-optical logic based on ultrafast two-dimensional transmission gating.

Terabit all-optical complementary logic is proposed using two successive time slots to represent a unique logical status. An organic molecular thin film is used as an array of optically controlled optical switches. By utilizing the planar structure of the film and its ultrafast optical response, proof-of-principle fully optical NOT and AND logic operations were demonstrated with 400-fs interval pulses.

Widely tunable femtosecond soliton pulse generation at a 10-GHz repetition rate by use of the soliton self-frequency shift in photonic crystal fiber.

We demonstrate a soliton self-frequency shift of approximately 120 nm in a fiber with 1.56-microm pulses generated at a 10-GHz repetition rate by an actively mode-locked laser. A highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber with a length of only 12.6 m and a nonlinear coefficient of 62 W(-1) km(-1) is used to achieve such broadband operation. The wavelengths of the resulting sub-300-fs solitons can be tuned effectively by adjusting the input power. The maximum output power of the solitons exceeds 200 mW.