More than 1000 channel optical frequency 12.5GHz spaced AWG DEMUX [IO, 1 I]. Fig.

2d is the optical
chain generation from single spectrum at one port of the AWG DEMUX. The channel cross-
supercontinuum source with 12.5GHz talk of the adjacent optical frequencies was -21dB. A semiconduc-
tor optical amplifier (SOA) and an Er-doped optical amplifier
channel spacing (EDFA) were used as optical pre-amplifiers for the wavelength
range 1495-1 530 and 153&1595nm, respectively. The SNRs were
H. T a k a r a , T. O h a r a , K. M o r i , K. Sato, E. Y a m a d a , calculated by integrating the RIN measured from l00MHz to
Y . Inoue, T. Shibata, M. Abe, T. M o r i o k a and 2.5GHz, and the Q factors were measured after externally modu-
K-I. Sat0 lating each channel in an LiNb03 modulator at 2.5GbiVs ( F - 1
More than 1000 optical frequency channels are generated with PRBS). Fig. 3 shows the wavelength dependencies of the SNR
12.5GHz spacing from a single supercontinuum source. 600-700 and the Q factor. The SNR exceeded 20dB over a l00nm range.
channels for the wavelength range 1512-1580nm arc confinned to The Q factor exceeded 18.3dB (BER < 10 16) for the wavelength
offer SNRs and Q [actors sufticicnt for multi-span 2.SGbitis range 1512-1 580nm, which is sufficient for multi-span transmis-
DWDM transmission. sion. The results show that more than 600 channels have SNRs
sufficient to realise transmission over several hundreds of kilomc-
Introduction: To construct flexible and robust photonic networks, Ires. For wavelengths shorter than 1 5 3 0 ~ 1 ,the SNR and the Q
it is essential to control, manage and fully utilise the vast optical factor were relatively low due to the larger noise figure of the SOA
frequency resources available, which extend over 25THz in the used.
1Spm region. Frequency management includes the generation of
multiple (hundreds of) optical frequencies on ITU grids with a
well-controlled spacing of < 50GHz for DWDM transmission and
networks, as well as optical frequency comb generation for abso-
lute optical frequency standards [I]. Supercontinuum (SC) gcnera-
tion [2, 31 is an effectivc way of obtaining such well-managed
optical frequencies because it dramatically broadens the input
optical pulse spectrum, increasing the number of optical frequency 11499
0- 1519
modes by as much as 100 times, while maintaining their coherent a A,nm b A, nm
characteristics. One of the great advantages of using SC for opti-
cal chain (grid) generation is its fixed channel spacing with accu-
racy equivalent to that of a microwave oscillator (-Hz) [4]: The
feature enables us to lock the entire chain to absolute standards by
locking just one mode of the chain [SI.Recently, the noise charac-
teristics of a single longitudinal mode of the SC broadened spectra
have been reported [6, 71.
This Letter reports a 1000 channel optical frequency chain with C A, nm d A. nm
12.5GHz spacing. The SNR, Q factor, optical frequency stability
and linewidth of each channel were evaluated afkr slicing one
Fig. 2 Generated optical frequency chuin spectra
mode of the SC spectrum with a 12.5GHz-spaced arrayed-
waveguide-grating demultiplexer (AWG DEMUX). More than N 1500nni
600 channels have been confirmed to offer SNR values sufficient b 1520nm
c 1600nm
for multi-span transmission. d 1560nm (after AWG-DEMUX)
SC source

pulse
source
2,5GHZ PM-SC fibre

1538nm
I- 1450 1500 1550 1600 1650
40

30
4
IOOnm, 1000 channels
440

-.-
i
0

m
20

r 1
101 ' ' ' ' ' ' .\, ' ' I 10
1558 1559 1560 1561 1562 1 ' ' ' ' ' ' '

a
).,nm 1500 1520 1540 1560 580 1600
1851111
Fig. 1 Experimental setup 1fopticulfi.equency chain generutiuri

Experiment und results; Fig. 1 shows the experimental setup for 24

optical frequency chain generation. A 12.5GHz optical pump
pulse train was generated from a 1538nm modelocked laser diode
(ML-LD) [8]. It was then amplified with an EDFA and coupled
22 1 f*** *************** -I
into a polarisation-maintaining (PM) dispersion-flattened disper- 20 consecutive channels
sion-decreasing SC fibre [9]. The output spectrum exhibited more 18
than l00nm spectrum broadening as shown in Fig. 1. The Figure
shows that the 12.5GHz spaced optical frequency chain contains
more than 1000 channels. The optical powers of thc wavelengths
l6 L 1558 1559 1560

from 1500 to 1600nm ranged from -15 to -23dBm. A close-up of A,nm

the spectra around 1560nm, which is more than 20nm (200ch)
from the source laser wavelength, confirms the generation of an Fig. 3 Meusrrred opticul S N R and Q ,fiicturs of opticul fieyuency over
70nm und Q uround 1559nm
equally spaced optical frequency chain. Other optical frequency
chain spectra around 1500, 1520, and 1600nm are shown in 0 SNR
4 Q fact01
Figs. 2a, b and e, respectively.
The noise characteristics (RIN and Q factor) of each optical fre- Fig. 4 shows the 2.5Cbitis eye diagrams at wavelengths of
quency were measured after one frequency was extracted with a 1517, 1531, 1560, and 1570nm, which all indicate good eye open-
ELECTRONICS LETTERS 7th December 2000 Vol. 36 No. 25 2089
ing. The frequency stability and line width of one optical fre-
quency were measured to be better than 0.3GHz and 2.5MHz
(1538-1591nm). The linewidth of the 12.5GHz component (chan-
nel spacing) of the entire 1000 channel set was less than the instru-
ment-limited resolution of I Hz.
a b
C 13B1-2
Fig. 4 Measured eye dingrtims at 2.5GbitLr
a 1517nm
b 1531nm
c 1560nni
d 1570nm
Conclusion: We have generated an optical frequency chain with
over 1000 channels (12.5GHz spacing) from a single SC source. It
was confirmed that 60&700 channels offered SNR values suffi-
cient for achieving Q factors of inore than 18.3dB for the wave-
length range from 1512 to 1580nm. The channel spacing is strictly
determined by the microwave inodelocking frequency of the
source laser within kHz accuracy. It is expected that more than
1000 channels can be applied for DWDM systems by optimising
the SC source and utilising optical amplifiers that suit shorter
wavelengths such as Raman amplifiers or thulium-doped fibre
amplifiers. The generated optical frequency grids can also be
applied to optical frequency standards and frequency stabilisation
of DWDM channels.
Ackcnodedgnient: The authors wish to thank A. Takada, K. Uchi-
yama, W. Imajuku, K. Jinguji and K. Takada for their help in the
experiment, Y. Hibino, S. Kawanishi, M. Koga, H. Toba, I.
Shake and K. Okamoto for fruitful discussions and guidance, and
M. Kawachi for continuous encouragement.
0 IEE 2000 23 October 2000
Electronics Letters Online Nfi: 200(11461
Dol: IO.1O4~/el:ZOOOI46 1
H. Takara, T. Ohara, K. Mori, K. Sato. E.Yamada, T. Morioka aiid
K.-I. Sato (NTT Network Innovation Loborirtories, 1-1 Hikari-no-oka,
Yoko.ruka, Kunaguwu, 239-0847 JallLln)
Y . Tnoue, T. Shibata and M. Abc (NTT Tokrri,
Ibizruki, 3I 9 -1193 Jripon)
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2090 ELECTRONICS LETTERS
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Shared OTDM packet compressor and
decompressor
K. Seppanen
A novel shared packet compressor and decompressor system for
OTDM is proposed. The system can proms multiple packets
simultaneously, promoting high utilisation of optical components.
Its operation is based on bit reordcring, which allows an elegant
implementation. Depending on implementation all-optical 2R or
3R regeneration can bc provided.
1nh.oduction: Time division packet switching (TDPS) is based on
reading packets sequentially from the input ports in a determinis-
tic order within the period of one packet. The actual switching
operation is performed by reordering the packets in a switching
element. The reordered packets are then written sequentially into
the output ports. The switching element has to operate at a higher
speed compared to the line speed. Because all packets are proc-
essed in the period of one packet, the operation speed of a switch-
ing element in a pure TDPS has to be at least equal to the sum of
the speed of its input lines. In practice, this means that packets
have to be somehow compressed and decompressed in the time
domain.
An electrical time division packet switch is quite straightfor-
ward to implement, e.g. using FIFO elements at the input and
output ports. The same does not hold for optical TDPS due to the
lack of usable optical memory elements. While many schemes for
all optical packet compression have been successfully demon-
strated [l, 21, all-optical decompression schemes restoring the orig-
inal packet have received less attention.
In this Letter a scheme for a shared OTDM packet compressor
and decompressor based on bit reordering is proposed. This
scheme differs from earlier ones by virtue of the fact that it
involves sharing and avoids optical storage rings [3]. As a result it
is simpler and achieves better utilisation of the optical compo-
nents.
delay=l28 delay=64 delays delay=i
n
Fig. 1 Packet decomm,ressor .fix 256 bit packets hoed on priwer”-Of-2
d e l q lines and just 2x2 .rwitciie.r
Principle o f r i p e r ~ t i ~ nOptical
: packet compression schemes usually
preserve the original bit order in the compressed packet. If such a
packet is to be decompressed to restore the original packet, prob-
lems will arise: if the bit interval was t(,vixin the original packet
and t,,,/N in the compressed one, the decompressor has to delay
the second bit by - l)/N and the third bit by to,J2N- 2)lN;
generally the dehy for the bit i E [0, 1, 2, ...I has to be &i(N- 1)iN.
7th December2000 Vol. 36 No. 25