NSF Award
9632144
*** 9632144 McAdams This Phase I STTR project will develop an integrated all-optical wavelength converter for use in all-optical switches and other applications. The effort will leverage Optivision's extensive experience gained from building and deploying optical crossbar switches based on semiconductor optical amplifiers and the University of Southern California's cutting edge research in all-optical wavelength converters. Recently, wavelength conversion has been demonstrated with semiconductor optical amplifiers based on cross gain compression, cross phase modulation, or four wave mixing. The effort will begin by developing a set of switch requirements based on interaction with all-optical test beds and high end users, then evaluating the various wavelength conversion techniques against these requirements. To demonstrate the feasibility of the approach, Optivision, Inc. will perform both detailed modeling of the expected performance and a proof-of-concept experiment. Optivision will also investigate the complexity and tradeoffs of fabricating integrated all-optical wavelength converters. The Phase II effort will involve the fabrication, laboratory evaluation, and deployment into a test bed of integrated all-optical wavelength converters. Network capacity is expected to grow more than an order of magnitude by the year 2000. To support this explosive growth new networking technologies are required. All-optical wavelength conversion and switching are two functions that have been identified as key building blocks for future high capacity networks. Integrated all-optical switching wavelength converters will be required in high capacity wavelength division multiplexed networks such as future cable television, television, and data transmission systems. ***
