Abstract

We demonstrate high precision packet and bit synchronization of an optical switching node to an incoming packet stream. Our technique uses only four preamble bits and employs FBGs as continuous optical correlators to determine the start of a packet with 1/8^th of a bit time precision. We use this optical technique to recognize the arrival of 2.5-Gb/s data packets and to route them to one of two outputs of an optical switch in a reconfigurable network. Penalty-free switching with a 1.6-ns guard time is achieved.

© 2001 Optical Society of America