Optical signal processing for all-optical computer networks

Optical networks are evolving from static optical circuits and subsequently optical circuit switching towards optical packet switching in order to take advantage of the high transport capacity made available by WDM and OTDM systems in a more flexible way.Optically labeling of packets and routing the packets's payload optically under control of its label allows the network nodes to route and forward IP data without having to process the payload, thus keeping it in the optical domain; this is a promising solution to avoid electronic bottlenecks in routers. All-optical label switching can therefore be used to route and forward packets independent of their length and payload bitrate.This thesis studies optical signal processing techniques, especially semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA?s) and their potential applications and a novel all-optical routing architecture.