ALL-OPTICAL WDM-TO-TDM CONVERSION WITH TOTAL CAPACITY OF 33 GB S FOR WDM NETWORK LINKS/

We demonstrate all-optical WDM-to-TDM conversion in a switching node w ith a total throughput of 33 Gb/s, This is the highest throughput ever reported using a low timing jitter monolithic mode-locked semiconduct or laser and a nonlinear optical loop mirror, The NOLM serves as an N x 1 wavelength converter and the node has a unified output wavelength at 1554 mn, Wavelength-to-time-domain conversion using the node is sim ulated by inputting two data channels each at 1 Gb/s, This scheme is p roposed to serve as an interface between independent high capacity WDM networks to avoid the limitations imposed by the optical bandwidth an d unequal gain of EDFA's in optical networking and to minimize the del eterious effect of fiber nonlinearities during transmissions, The swit ching node for multiwavelength operation based on the wavelength depen dence of the switching characteristics of the NOLM is also evaluated.