Contribution on the study of the all-optical processing devices and subsystems of future broadband optical networks

In this thesis, all-optical processing for future optical networks is studied by means of parametric processes in optical fibers. Parametric processes are nonlinear effects which arise in optical fibers when high-powered waves are properly placed at specific spectral positions. The properties of parametric processes are defined by the optical fiber characteristics, the power and the wavelength position of the pump waves that are employed. In the first part of this thesis an analytical study on the noise characteristics of parametric amplifiers operating at the linear regime is provided. A useful theoretical model for the noise figure estimation is derived, and a comparative study on the noise properties of various schemes of parametric amplifiers is carried out. The second part of this thesis includes theoretical, numerical and experimental results on all-optical functionalities such as wavelength conversion, all-optical regeneration and all-optical label swapping solely based on single-pump and dual-pump parametric amplifiers. Two novel reshaping schemes accompanied by wavelength conversion are proposed and their advanced characteristics in terms of high bit-rate operation are highlighted. Finally, in the last chapter of this thesis, the potential of parametric amplification for the implementation of all-optical label swapping for photonic packet switching is proposed and numerically demonstrated for the first time up to the author’s knowledge.