Experiments on photonic cell switching with an optical input buffer

Abstract

The authors describe photonic cell switching experiments using an optical input buffer. The buffer controls cell throughput to a switch module according to back-pressure signals from a switch controller. The buffer has a size of three cells consisting of two kinds of fibre delay line. The optical cells are switched to dual ports through the optical buffer. Buffering and switching experiments are performed for 2.5 Gbit/s 64 bit optical cells, and the bit error rate is measured.