A novel optically controlled wavelength conversion circuit for WDM star networks

We report an innovative solely optical architecture to implement the centralized wavelength conversion module of the controlled wavelength conversion protocol [G.I. Papadimitriou, A.S. Pomportsis, Wavelength-conversion-based, Photonic. Netw. Commun. 1 (4) (1999) 263]. The proposed module was designed to distribute the conversion wavelengths to the corresponding converters in an unbiased manner taking into consideration the information carried by the control wavelength. The design of the optically controlled wavelength conversion circuit is based on the use of optical logic circuits. These optical circuits distribute the available wavelengths by eliminating the need of optical to electronic translation of the network's feedback information and thus reducing drastically processing time. Furthermore, due to the all-optical nature of the network hub the reliability of the system is improved.