Performance, improvement and perspective application of an all-optical shift register

An all-optical shift register based on self electro-optic effect devices is introduced. The switching behavior, system performance and some possible improvements are presented, Calculations show the system bit rate could be up to 790 Mbit/s with 1 mW clock power. An improved scheme is discussed, which can provide 2 Gbit/s throughput for 1 mW clock power. Finally we present an application of this all-optical shift register in fast photonic packet switching.