Abstract

The evolution of transmission systems from point-to-point links to dynamically reconfigurable networks developed a need for tunable devices with accurate setting capabilities and stability. Both passive and active fiber grating devices have been demonstrated for applications in for example dynamic dispersion compensation,¹ tunable add-drop filtering and gain equalization.² With the continued bandwidth requirements, wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) have been adopted as the obvious choice, but through exhaust of the available frequencies in the transmission window of the transport fibers, new techniques will have to be explored for further bandwidth enhancements. Recently optical code division multiple access (OCDMA) has attracted considerable interest as an alternative technique to increase the functionality of these future optical networks. This spread-spectrum technique permits many channels to share the same wavelength band but to be individually addressable through the allocation of specific address codes.³ The distinguished attractive features include flexible bandwidth management, improved system security, the potential for much higher connectivity and network scalability, improved crosstalk performance and asynchronous operation. In addition, a flexible code provisioning system based on tunable coders will certainly make this multiplexing technique far more attractive for the networks.

© 2002 Optical Society of America