Implementation of an all-optical buffer & TimeSlot-interchanger based on integrated SOI delay lines

The expected transition towards all-optical packet flow routers, that conform to the strict latency and bandwidth requirements of DataCenter applications, is closely related to the realization of integrated optical delay line buffers, as well as Time Slot Interchangers to provide the necessary contention resolution functions. However, existing delay line implementations, provide limited buffering time, or require large footprint, due to the technology platform. We present integrated Silicon-on-Insulator spiral waveguides as all-optical delay line buffer and time-slot-interchanger. The three different delay lines induce delays of 6.5nsec, 11.3nsec and 17.2nsec, respectively. Two differentially-biased SOA-MZI wavelength converters and integrated delay lines used for optical buffering from 6.5nsec up to 17.2nsec and successful time-slot rearrangement of three data packets, both achieving error-free operation at 10Gb/s.