Optical Code Division Multiplexing and Its Application to Peta-bit/s Photonic Network

The rapidly increase in demand for bandwidth from end-users forces network infrastructure to be peta-bit/s capacity. The efficient utilization of the bandwidth of an optical fiber is a major issue in the design of ultrahigh-speed photonic networks. The two primary techniques for multiplexing data signals onto the channel of a single fiber are currently time division multiplexing (TDM) and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). Optical code division multiplexing (OCDM) is an alternative method. A proper choice of optical codes allows signals from all connected network nodes to be carried without interference between signals. Simultaneous multiple access can thus be achieved without a complex network protocol to coordinate data transfer among the communicating nodes[1]. Therefore, OCDM can provide certain real advantages when applied to photonic networks, due to its unique combination of qualities: such as asynchronous transmission, a potential of communication security, soft capacity on demand, and high degree of scalability[2][3]. As a result, the applications of OCDM range from point-to-point transmission[2][3], multiple access[4], an optical path network[5][6], and label switching routing[7][8]. In this paper, we review the applications of OCDM to photonic networks based on ultrafast photonic processing in order to pursuit for developing peta-bit/s capacity networks. In section 2, the basic concept of ultrafast Photonic processing and its application is explained. In section 3, we report high spectrum efficiency, multi-tera-bit/s OCDM/WDM