Dynamic alignment of pulses in bit-parallel wavelength links using a Shepherd pulse in nonlinear fibers for massively parallel processing computer networks

A new way to dynamically control in-flight pulses in a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) single-mode fiber system is presented in this paper. This system functionally resembles an optical fiber ribbon cable, except that all the bits pass on one fiber optic waveguide and that the bandwidth and bit temporal pulse alignment are much greater. In a WDM fiber system, where pulses on different wavelength beams may co-propagate in a single-mode fiber the cross phase modulation (CPM) effects caused by the nonlinearity of the optical fiber are unavoidable. In other words, pulses on different wavelength beams can interact with and affect each other through the intensity dependence of the refractive index of the fiber Using this phenomenon, through the introduction of a Shepherd pulse at a separate wavelength, it is possible to manipulate, 'color', and control pulses on co-propagating beams. How this can be accomplished will be demonstrated in this paper.