Time stretch optical header recognition

To overcome the electronic speed limitation, all-optical packet extraction and recognition has been extensively studied. In this paper, we propose and demonstrate a new method named time stretch header recognition technique, where the header is (i) optically extracted and (ii) slowed down so that it can be processed with conventional electronics running at lower speed than the data rate. A 10 Gb/s bit stream is stretched by the factor of around 20 allowing capture and processing by low speed electronics. An optical quality factor of 18 dBQ was achieved for the time-stretched header.