Demonstration of 30 circulations in a transparent optical-loop buffer for 2-channel FDM packets at a data rate of 2.8 Gbit/s

Summary form only given. Buffering is indispensable in packet-switching systems. Optical frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) techniques make it possible to design a compact buffer fabric. A transparent optical-loop buffer is one of the simplest buffering schemes; the packet storage time corresponds to the number of circulations in a loop-connected optical fiber. In this paper we present an experimental optical loop-buffer employing a differential receiver which can receive power-fluctuated packets. The proposed system can preserve two FDM-packets for up to 30 circulations and provides frequency-channel expandability.