FWM conversion with pump suppression for filterless optical packet switching applications

The use of a Pump-Suppressed Four Wave Mixing PS-FWM wavelength converter in a wavelength conversion and selection switching scheme is examined and demonstrated. The scheme requires a single 2 × 1 Mach Zenhder Interferometer (MZI) and offers substantial pump suppression and efficiency improvement in terms of optical signal-to-noise ratio. Performance measurements on the combination of PS-FWM wavelength converter with an Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG) for passive routing, shows the potentially successful use of the scheme in an ultra-fast wavelength routed optical packet switching scheme where the use of optical filters for the separation of the converted signal from the pump is avoided.