We present an experimental study of ultrafast all-optical interferometric s
witching devices based upon a resonant nonlinearity in a semiconductor opti
cal amplifier (SOA). We experimentally compare three configurations: one ba
sed upon a Sagnac interferometer and the other two based upon Mach-Zehnder
interferometers. By using picosecond pulses, we characterize the switching
window of the three devices in terms of both temporal width and output peak
-to-peak amplitude. These results are found to be in close agreement with a
previously developed theoretical model. Since these nonlinear interferomet
ric switches use an active device as the nonlinear element, relatively low
control pulse energy is needed to perform switching as compared to other te
chniques. As a result, these optical switches are practical for all-optical
demultiplexing and ultrafast optical sampling for future lightwave communi
cation systems. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights rese
rved.