Photonic gateway: multiplexing format conversions of OCDM-to-WDM and WDM-to-OCDM at 40 Gb/s (4/spl times/10 Gb/s)

Photonic gateway, which performs the bilateral conversion and reconversion of multiplexing format, is proposed. 40-Gb/s (4/spl times/10 Gb/s) optical code-division multiplexing (OCDM)-to-wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) conversion and WDM-to-OCDM reconversion are experimentally demonstrated for the first time. The experimental scheme is based upon ultrafast photonic processing both in the time domain and frequency domain, namely, optical encoding/decoding along with optical time-gating in the time domain and supercontinuum generation followed by spectrum slicing in the frequency domain. Thus, the possibility of ultra-high-speed operation features this photonic conversion scheme in the future photonic networks.