Photonic packet switch using semiconductor optical amplifier gates

Photonic packet switching using semiconductor optical amplifiers is reported. The optical amplifiers are used as gates to switch the optical packets and also as modulators to provide address header replacement. This eliminates the need for the fibre delay line used in previous photonic packet switching demonstrations, and allows the possibility of packet switch integration onto a single substrate. The photonic packet switch has a crosstalk performance better than 40 dB.