Transmission and transparent wavelength conversion of an optically labeled signal using ASK/DPSK orthogonal modulation

We report an experimental investigation of transmission and transparent wavelength conversion properties of a two-level optically labeled signal using amplitude-shift-keying/differential-phase-shift-keying orthogonal modulation. Error-free transmission of a 10-Gb/s payload and 2.5-Gb/s label over 80-km nonzero dispersion-shifted fiber is achieved with less than 1-dB power penalty. Transparent wavelength label swapping based on four-wave mixing in a highly nonlinear fiber is also demonstrated, clearly validating this orthogonal modulation scheme as a potential solution for optical labeling.