Research Projects
Spurred by the growth of the internet and the increasing demand for digital video, audio, and data transmission, telecommunications capacity requirements are now doubling approximately every six months. These requirements can be met in part by making better use of the large bandwidth available in optical fiber. Time-division multiplexing (TDM), where multiple low-data-rate channels are combined into a single high-data-rate bit stream, is one method to better utilize the existing fiber bandwidth. In an ultrafast (>100 Gb/s) TDM communications link, multiple channels operating at data rates limited by present day electronics can be combined onto a single optical fiber for transmission.
The Ultrafast Optical Communications Group is developing novel devices
designed to allow implementation of a 160-Gb/s
optically time-division multiplexed (OTDM) fiber-optic link. Among the
devices and subsytems being developed are the following:
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A
Picosecond Pulse Source to generate picosecond optical pulses at
high repetition rates |
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An
Optical Tapped Delay Line to multiplex lower-rate data streams into
one ultrafast stream |
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Ultrafast
Low-Temperature-Grown InGaAs-Based Materials and Devices including modulators
and saturable absorbers |
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A
Transparent Optical Switch for switching ultrafast packet-based data |
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An
Optical Memory Loop for short-term storage of arbitrary-rate,
arbitrary-format optical data |
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An
All-Optical Serial-To-Parallel Converter to demultiplex ultrafast optical
data |
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Frequency-Resolved Optical Gating (FROG) characterization of ultrashort optical pulses |
