A novel self-synchronization scheme for optical packet-switched networks based on asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer

Proposed in this paper is a novel scheme of packet-level self-synchronization with semiconductor-optical-amplifier-assisted asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer (SOA-MZI). The effect of cross-phase modulation and cross-gain modulation in SOAs coupled with the interfering characteristics of MZI are employed to make the proposal simple, fast and integrable, with no special treatment of the marker pulses. Through numerical simulation, with the system parameters designed properly, an intensity contrast ratio of more than 13 dB at 100 G/s can be achieved.