Multiwavelength bidirectional optical crossconnect using fiber Bragg gratings and polarization beam splitter

We propose a multiwavelength bidirectional optical crossconnect (B-OXC) str ucture based on fiber Bragg gratings (FBG's) and polarization beam splitter s (PBS's), A 2 x 2 B-OXC system is implemented using four pairs of short pe riod gratings and two PBS's, in order to experimentally evaluate the perfor mance of the proposed B-OXC system. Loss characteristics are discussed with experimental measurements, and the bit-error rate (BER) performance, the t ypical channel crosstalk suppression, and the switching time are also measu red.