Reconfigurable high-speed optical fibre networks: Optical wavelength conversion and switching using VCSELs to eliminate channel collisions

•Crosstalk in 10 Gb/s signals with 0.2-1.6 dB penalties for 50-150 GHz spacing.•A high‑speed 8.5 Gb/s optical wavelength conversion using VCSELs at 1550 nm window.•1.1 dB conversion and 0.5 dB transmission penalties for 8.5 Gb/s signal for 24.7 km.•Wavelength switched to a new wavelength to eliminate channel collision at the node.•Cost and energy effective VCSEL wavelength conversion, switching and transmission.

We experimentally provide an alternative solution to channel collisions through up-wavelength conversion and switching by using vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). This has been achieved by utilizing purely optical wavelength conversion on VCSELs at the low attenuation, 1550 nm transmission window. The corresponding transmission and bit error-rate (BER) performance evaluation is also presented. In this paper, two 1550 nm VCSELs with 50-150 GHz channel spacing are modulated with a 10 Gb/s NRZ PRBS 27-1 data and their interferences investigated. A channel interference penalty range of 0.15-1.63 dB is incurred for 150-50 GHz channel spacing without transmission. To avoid channel collisions and to minimize high interference penalties, the transmitting VCSEL with data is injected into the side-mode of a slave VCSEL to obtain a new up converted wavelength. A 16 dB extinction ratio of the incoming wavelength is achieved when a 15 dBm transmitting beam is injected into the side-mode of a −4.5 dBm slave VCSEL. At 8.5 Gb/s, a 1.1 dB conversion and a 0.5 dB transmission penalties are realized when the converted wavelength is transmitted over a 24.7 km G.655 fibre. This work offers a low-cost, effective wavelength conversion and channel switching to reduce channel collision probability by reconfiguring channels at the node of networks.