Abstract

The method of transmitting high-speed optical baseband data with a subcarrier signal¹ is useful because: (1) the subcarrier can be used to “tag” the high-speed baseband data with low-speed routing control information, and (2) readily available microwave components and inexpensive low-speed electronics can be used at network nodes where high-speed data detection is unnecessary. An important application of this method is within a dynamically reconfigurable wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) network where data is routed onto different wavelengths.² In such a WDM network, one of the essential components may be the all-optical wavelength (λ) shifter, which transfers data from one wavelength to another and avoids the optical-to-electronic bottleneck. For proper routing, multiple cascaded λ-shifts of baseband data and subcarrier control may be required, and hence, detecting the subcarrier after λ-shifting may be necessary. The question remains as to the extent that λ-shifting affects the subcarrier itself and the baseband-subcarrier combination.

© 1996 Optical Society of America