A WAVELENGTH-ROUTING NODE USING MULTIFUNCTIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR OPTICALAMPLIFIERS AND MULTIPLE-PILOT-TONE-CODED SUBCARRIER CONTROL HEADERS

We demonstrate wavelength routing by using the control information enc oded in a multiple-pilot-tone subcarrier header, Header detection, hea der removal, packet gating and wavelength shifting are all performed b y a single multifunctional semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). Base d on the header information contained in the 60-ns-long pilot tones, e ach incoming 1-Gb/s data packet either: 1) passes through the switch u naffected or 2) is wavelength shifted and dropped at the switch.