Transmission of an ASK-labeled RZ-DPSK signal and label erasure using a saturated SOA

We demonstrate an optically labeled signal based on return-to-zero differential phase-shift keying for payload at 10-Gb/s and amplitude-shift keying for label at 622-Mb/s. Receiver sensitivity of /spl sim/-36 dBm and penalty-free transmission over 80-km standard single-mode fiber are achieved for both the payload (with dispersion compensation) and the label. This labeling scheme allows the use of a deeply saturated semiconductor optical amplifier to perform polarization-insensitive label erasure. Label swapping is demonstrated with moderate penalty.