A fiber bragg grating based buffer: Architecture and performances evaluation

Buffering in all-optical networks is an important need and there are several approaches that have attempted to propose partial solutions, since optical memories are out of reach, nowadays. In this paper, we review the major approaches based on architectures using fixed length fiber delay lines (FDL). The main idea of these architectures is to lead optical packets in fiber and to profit from the transmitting time to delay transmitted signals. Secondly, we study less bulky architectures based on a combination of optical fiber components. The principle of these systems is to transmit the signal over a specified path depending on the required delay. Then, we propose a novel architecture based on the use of fiber Bragg gratings, optical circulator, wavelength converter, and optical amplifier. Optical packets flowing in such an architecture are captured in a virtual loop and may leave it as soon as the control unit decides that. To evaluate the performances of the proposed architecture, we formally assess the dispersion, the loss, the signal to noise ratio and the achieved delay on departure.