DEMONSTRATION OF AN ALL-OPTICAL DATA FORMAT TRANSPARENT WDM-TO-TDM NETWORK NODE WITH EXTINCTION RATIO ENHANCEMENT FOR RECONFIGURABLE WDM NETWORKS

We demonstrate a nearly penalty free, all-optical and robust WDM-to-TD M network node that converts two input WDM channels into one high-spee d TDM signal, Our node incorporates the very useful functions of: 1) W DM input data-format transparency; 2) time multiplexing; 3) wavelength shifting; and 4) extinction ratio enhancement of the output TDM signa l, We demonstrate the principle of this network node by converting two 1-Gb/s NRZ WDM channels at 1552 and 1548 nm into a 2-Gb/s NRZ TDM sig nal at 1558-nm, while incurring only a 0.2 dB power penalty.