Abstract

Sending continuous bit data stream is the method of choice for virtually all standardized optical transmission protocols, such as SONET/SDH or Gigabit Ethernet. In these protocols, the optical physical layer does not see or handle data packets at all. Nevertheless, true all-optical packet networks, i.e. optical networks where packets are generated in the optical domain and no power is transmitted on empty slots, have been studied for years, both theoretically,¹ showing their potential networking advantages due to the removal of the electronic bottleneck, and experimentally,^2,3 demonstrating their practical feasibility. This paper addresses the impact of the bursty traffic typical of such networks on the gain fluctuation of standard EDFA amplifiers. It has been shown⁴ that fast signal power transient at the input of EDFA causes time dependent saturation effects and significant output power fluctuations. We investigated on the actual system impact of this effect. This has been carried out as follows:

© 2002 Optical Society of America