10-Gb/s wavelength transparent optically controlled buffer using photonic-crystal-fiber-based nonlinear optical loop mirror

We have proposed and experimentally demonstrated a 10-Gb/s optically controlled buffer using a photonic-crystal-fiber (PCF)-based nonlinear optical loop mirror for all-optical packet-switched networks. The 10-Gb/s data can be stored in the buffer up to a period of 2.5 μs. By using the cross-phase modulation property between the control signal and the data signal inside the PCF, the total length of the fiber used in the buffer can be shortened to 30.9 m. The stored data packets are retrieved after they are stored in the memory for 2, 4,...., and 12 round-trips. Independent bit-error-rate (BER) measurements have been carried out. The maximum power penalty is 3.3 dB at 1550 nm. The proposed buffer is wavelength transparent. For data packets stored in the C-band, the maximum power penalty after the data are stored in the memory for 12 round-trips is 3.5 dB at the BER of 10^-9.