An optically controlled module for wavelength conversion circuits

We report an innovative solely optical architecture to implement the centralized wavelength conversion module of the CWC (controlled wavelength conversion) protocol [Papadimitriou, G.I. et al., 1999]. 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 module 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.