AWG and EDFA based optical packet switch using feedback shared loop buffer memory

Optical packet switching provides high speed, data rate/format transparency, efficient use of bandwidth and flexibility. The major problem in the implementation of “all-optical” switching is contention which occurs when two or more packets arrive at the same time for the same destination. To resolve the contention, we have proposed an optical packet switch architecture based on WDM loop buffer memory in the feedback configuration. In that architecture, the contending packets are stored in a loop buffer module, and routed in the free time slots. The buffering duration in the recirculating loop is limited by a circulation limit. The analysis was been done to obtain the maximum number of allowed circulations. This paper proposes improved version of that optical packet switch architecture, to increase the number of maximum allowed circulations. The modification is done either by adding an extra erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) in the original switch or by replacing the core space switch with arrayed waveguide grating (AWG). The performance analysis has been done by the simulations.     

Dynamical switching and memory via incoherent pump assisted optical bistability

We analyze the dynamical behavior of all-optical switching and memory based on tunable optical bistability in a three-level Λ-type atomic system driven by a probe field circulating in an optical ring cavity, a coherent coupling field and an incoherent pump field outside cavity. Owing to the incoherent pump process, the absorption and Kerr nonlinearity near the atomic resonance change dramatically as a result of varied population distribution and atomic coherence, and then the switch-up and switch-down thresholds, as well as the width (or area) of bistable curve, can be manipulated effectively. By tuning the intensity of either coherent coupling field or incoherent pump field, we can make the system output flip between the lower and upper branches of different bistable hysteresis loops while the cavity input keeps to a constant value. Accordingly, all-optical switching and memory can be implemented via dynamical control of the bistable behavior under the assistance of incoherent pump. The proposed scheme can find potential applications in all-optical communication and computation.     

Wavelength division multiplexed loop buffer memory based optical packet switch

Photonic all-optical switching is widely considered as one of the technique to utilize the enormous optical bandwidth. Optical packet switching provides high speed, data rate transparency, data format transparency, efficient use of bandwidth and flexibility. To resolve the conflict during contention, packets are needed to be buffered. Due to the lack of optical RAM, fiber delay lines (FDLs) are the most suited option to buffer the packets. This paper proposes new optical packet switch architecture alongwith feedback shared buffer utilizing the advantage of WDM loop buffer memory. The loop buffer module used in this switch architecture is a new approach towards WDM buffering of packets. The mathematical modeling is done to validate the results obtained from simulation.     

Wideband optical phase modulator half-wave voltage measurement technique based on phase modulation optical link

We measured the half-wave voltage V_π of LiNbO₃ phase modulators in the broadband frequency range by analyzing the gain of phase modulation interference demodulation optical link. This is a new high practical value measurement method for half-wave voltage of LiNbO₃ phase modulators in wideband frequency range, and can accurately predict the nonlinear frequency characteristics of phase modulation optical link.     

A simultaneous generation of QKD and QDC via optical memory array for distributed network security

We propose a novel system of a simultaneous generation of continuous variable quantum key distribution (QKD) and quantum dense coding (QDC) via an optical memory array. The optical memory system is formed by using an array waveguide incorporating a nano-ring resonator, whereas the different spatial light modes can be generated and stored within an optical memory unit. The polarized photon is formed and stored within a storing device, i.e. a ring resonator, whereas the different time slot entangled photons can be generated, transmitted and detected by the different subscriber in the distributed networks. By using the optical memory concept, the continuous variable quantum key distribution is provided. Furthermore, the use of quantum dense coding via time division multiplexing paths, i.e. different time slot, is also plausible. The advantage of the proposed system is that the quantum key distribution can provide the network top security with high capacity and safety, which is the large demand of usage in the public networks.     

Information verification and encryption based on phase retrieval with sparsity constraints and optical inference

A novel optical information verification and encryption method is proposed based on inference principle and phase retrieval with sparsity constraints. In this method, a target image is encrypted into two phase-only masks (POMs), which comprise sparse phase data used for verification. Both of the two POMs need to be authenticated before being applied for decrypting. The target image can be optically reconstructed when the two authenticated POMs are Fourier transformed and convolved by the correct decryption key, which is also generated in encryption process. No holographic scheme is involved in the proposed optical verification and encryption system and there is also no problem of information disclosure in the two authenticable POMs. Numerical simulation results demonstrate the validity and good performance of this new proposed method.     

Hybrid near-field optical memory and photofabrication in dye-doped polymer film

A hybrid near-field fluorescence microscopy, which combines near-field scanning optical microscopy and photon scanning tunneling microscopy, is demonstrated for nanoscale optical memory and photofabrication on spin-coated dye-doped polymer films. Storage capacity and readout signal-to-noise ratio with near-field one-photon and two-photon excitations are studied.     

Proposal for underwater structural analysis using the techniques of ESPI and digital holography

The purpose of this article is to study the application of the holographic interferometry techniques in the structural analysis of submarine environment. These techniques are widely used today, with applications in many areas. Nevertheless, its application in submarine environments presents some challenges. The application of two techniques, electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI) and digital holography, comparison of advantages and disadvantages of each of them is presented. A brief study is done on the influence of water properties and the optical effects due to suspended particles as well as possible solutions to minimize these problems.     

Multi-state optical flip-flop memory based on ring lasers coupled through the same gain medium

We investigate a system consisting of multiple ring lasers coupled by a single gain medium. All the ring lasers share a common feedback arm. The output power of an individual laser shows periodic oscillations as a function of time. The periodicity of the oscillation is determined by the ratio of the roundtrip times of the feedback arm and the ring cavity. In the case that two of such ring lasers are coupled, either their oscillation periodicities are synchronized, or the system is bi-stable. In the latter operation regime, the system can act as an optical flip-flop memory whose state be switched by injection of external light. The concept can be extended to multi-state operations; an eight-state optical flip-flop memory is experimentally demonstrated.     

Proposal and realization for a broadband all-fiber non-uniformly spaced multi-channel optical filter

In this paper, we propose a broadband all-fiber non-uniformly spaced multi-channel optical filter, which is based on the utilization of paired multi-channel fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) located at two arms of an interferometer. Unlike the traditional optical comb filter, the channel spacing may be either linearly or nonlinearly chirped. Serving as an example, two identical linearly-chirped 51-channel FBGs have been successfully employed to demonstrate the proposed filter experimentally.     

Secure optical system that uses fully phase-based encryption and lithium niobate crystal as phase contrast filter for decryption

In this paper, the implementation of a secure optical system using fully phase encryption is described. A two-dimensional phase image obtained from an amplitude image is encrypted and decrypted by using a spatial light modulator working in phase mode. The fully phase encryption is achieved using double random phase encoding. The encrypted image is holographically recorded in a photorefractive crystal and is then decrypted by generating, through phase conjugation, the conjugate of the encrypted image. A lithium niobate crystal has been used as a phase contrast filter to change the decrypted phase image into an amplitude image, thus alleviating the need for alignment of the phase contrast set-up in the Fourier plane. Simulation results are provided to verify the proposed study. The mean square error between the primary image and decrypted image has been calculated to study the sensitivity of the system.     

High-resolution spectroscopy based on optical phase modulator and optical frequency comb

A phase modulation of an optical frequency comb has been applied to measure a fine spectrum in the 1.5 μm wavelength range by the optical heterodyne-detection method. The measurement frequency range covered 25 GHz, which satisfies the frequency interval of the optical frequency comb, with a spectral resolution of 1 MHz.     

Measurement of the optical absorption coefficient for liquid based on optical microfiber

An inline measuring method of the optical absorption coefficient for liquid based on optical microfiber (OM) is studied. If an OM is immersed into absorptive liquid, the additional loss of the OM will increase. We have analyzed the relationship between the additional loss of the OMs and the absorption coefficients of the liquids, and found that the OM with determinate construction will be useful for measuring the absorption coefficients of the liquid whose refractive index is lower than that of the OM. Two OM samples are prepared to measure the absorption coefficient of pure water. A supercontinuum source is launched into the OM sample which is immersed into pure water, and absorption spectrum from 1400 to 1700 nm has been achieved by monitoring the additional loss. The trend of the absorption spectrum is similar with that of the reported result, showing that the inline measurement of the optical absorption coefficient is a feasible method for those lower refractive index liquids.     

Theory and experiment for atomic optical filter based on optical anisotropy in rubidium

An atomic optical filter based on optical anisotropy induced by another left-circularly polarized pump field is theoretically and experimentally investigated in the 5S_1/2–5P_3/2–5D_3/2 ladder-type system of rubidium vapor. The filter displays a single peak transmission of 14.4% with 396 MHz bandwidth narrower than Doppler width. Furthermore, the variation of peak transmission versus pump intensity, pump detuning and cell temperature are also given. The theoretical and experimental results are in good agreement, which can enhance understanding of operation mechanism for this category of filter. The narrow-bandwidth filter is useful for free-space optical systems and laser spectroscopy.     

Linearization and dispersion tolerable technique for remote access unit in uplink RoF system based on gain-saturated RSOA cascaded EAM

A novel scheme of a remote access unit which is based on an electroabsorption modulator cascaded by a gain-saturated reflective semiconductor optical amplifier is proposed to improve a transmission performance of uplink signal. The cascaded gain-saturated reflective semiconductor optical amplifier plays a role in enhancing linearity of the electroabsorption modulator as well as suppressing dispersion-induced carrier suppression in the uplink transmission using its nonlinear gain property. In the proposed scheme, carrier-to-interference ratio of transmitted 10-GHz band uplink signal was improved by 10.7 dB and the dispersion-induced carrier suppression of 5.65-GHz RF carrier was greatly mitigated by 33.4 dB through the 75.6-km optical link.     

Quasi-reciprocal reflective optical voltage sensor based on Pockels effect with digital closed-loop detection technique

A novel Pockels effect based optical voltage sensor (OVS) consisting of quasi-reciprocal reflective optical circuit is proposed and demonstrated in this paper. The quasi-reciprocal reflective optical circuit is realized so that a digital closed-loop detection technique adopted from fiber gyroscopes can be introduced to obtain the voltage-induced Pockels phase. Due to the digital closed-loop detection scheme, the proposed OVS is insensitive to the fluctuation of the light intensity and the dynamic range is independent of the half-wave voltage of the Pockels crystal compared to the conventional crystal bulk-type with the light intensity based detection scheme. A prototype of the proposed OVS is designed and evaluated. The calculated results of the electric field distribution show that the maximal measured voltage of the sensing element is up to 15 kV. The dc voltage from 0 to 3000 V and 50 Hz ac voltage from 0 to 5000 V are measured with good linearity. The proposed OVS achieves accuracy within ± 1% and ± 0.44% with the measured dc voltage above 800 V and ac voltage above 500 V, respectively. The influences of the alignment error in the sensing element on the measurement accuracy are also theoretically analyzed and experimentally verified.     

A novel all-optical label processing based on multiple optical orthogonal codes sequences for optical packet switching networks

This paper proposes an all-optical label processing scheme that uses the multiple optical orthogonal codes sequences (MOOCS)-based optical label for optical packet switching (OPS) (MOOCS-OPS) networks. In this scheme, each MOOCS is a permutation or combination of the multiple optical orthogonal codes (MOOC) selected from the multiple-groups optical orthogonal codes (MGOOC). Following a comparison of different optical label processing (OLP) schemes, the principles of MOOCS-OPS network are given and analyzed. Firstly, theoretical analyses are used to prove that MOOCS is able to greatly enlarge the number of available optical labels when compared to the previous single optical orthogonal code (SOOC) for OPS (SOOC-OPS) network. Then, the key units of the MOOCS-based optical label packets, including optical packet generation, optical label erasing, optical label extraction and optical label rewriting etc., are given and studied. These results are used to verify that the proposed MOOCS-OPS scheme is feasible.     

Industrial resin inspection for display production using automated fluid-inspection based on multimodal optical detection techniques

The large-scale liquid-crystal display (LCD) industry requires an accurate inspection system for identifying defects, as the LCD quality can be drastically degraded because of defects. In particular, the refractive index of LCD panels can be changed by internal micrometer-range substances, which form as a result of defectiveness and the insufficient solidification of industrial liquid resins. Intrinsically, the defect inspection of the raw materials must be performed prior to the LCD manufacturing process. Thus, optical coherence tomography (OCT) based automated fluid-inspection (AFI) methodology was introduced to demarcate and enumerate the defects in industrial liquid resins and the final product (LCD smartphone). The accuracy of the method was enhanced by implementing an intensity-detection algorithm. Subsequently, the optimal solidification rates of liquid resins were investigated using a fluorescence sensor-based ultraviolet hardening method to prevent the formation of defects between the internal layers of the LCD panel. Therefore, AFI can be implemented as an effective and cost-saving method in the smartphone industry for improving the quality of the final product.     

Integrated optical and MEMS based design process for a variable optical attenuator

This paper presents the design, fabrication and characterization of a Variable Optical Attenuator (VOA). The VOA is based on a device known as the Mechanical Anti-reflection Switch (MARS) that has been well studied for modulation applications. Therefore, the requirements of the MEMS device need to be freshly ascertained and are done so in this paper taking the optical and MEMS parameters into account. In addition, the effect of the MEMS parameters on the optical ones and vise versa were also exploited in the design process. A good VOA should have a linear variation of attenuation with voltage and a large change in attenuation with a small change in voltage. In addition, the device should have as small an insertion loss as possible. Keeping this in mind, the dimensions of the device were chosen to achieve maximum performance. Four design variables were used to design MARS for the VOA application. This paper will discuss how they are related. A surface micro-machining fabrication method was developed using thermal evaporation and Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) techniques. It includes a fluoroform (CHF3) based reactive ion etching for silicon nitride. The devices were released using low surface tension liquids and Rapid Thermal Annealing (RTA). The achieved process yield was over 90%. Several devices were tested and attenuation up to 5.6 dB was observed experimentally.