First demonstration of multihop all-optical packet switching

Experimenta1 demonstration of all-optical multihop routing through 2/spl times/2 photonic packet switches is described for the first time. As each packet traverses a switch, the functions of routing, contention resolution, header regeneration, and header reinsertion are performed. Three all-optical hops are demonstrated for the payload without optical amplification. The number of hops is currently limited by /spl minus/13 dB optical loss per switch pass. Each packet is coded using six discrete optical wavelengths, making this the widest bit-parallel photonic switch reported to date.>