Abstract: Broadband switching networks are disclosed, which has a plurality of broadband switch nodes and a broadband switch inter-node transmission line for connecting the plurality of broadband switch nodes, information being transmitted by cells, each of which comprises a header and an information field, wherein the broadband switch node comprises a broadband input and output port for inputting and outputting the cells to and from the broadband inter-node transmission line, and a switch for separating the cells being input through the broadband input and output port and for multiplexing the cells so as to output them, wherein data composed of the plurality of cells is transmitted and received through the broadband switch node by constant bit rate transmission, variable bit rate transmission, or a combination of the constant bit rate transmission and the variable bit rate transmission.

Abstract: In a light amplification apparatus in which a part of a light output from a light amplification medium is transmitted through a branching means to a light detection means so that light power of the light output is detected by the light detection means whereby at least one of an excitation source and a return means is controlled through a control means so that light branch from a branching means is returned as a return light to the light amplification medium through the branching means again in a state in which light power is adjusted by the return means, and, as a result, the light power of the light output from the light amplification medium can be kept in a desired value while the occurrence of a light surge is suppressed, a light amplification medium control method and a light amplification apparatus wherein a signal light input can be amplified while the occurrence of a light surge is suppressed by a simple structure and with good control response, and a system using the same.

Abstract: Broadband switching networks are disclosed, which has a plurality of broadband switch nodes and a broadband switch inter-node transmission line for connecting the plurality of broadband switch nodes, information being transmitted by cells, each of which comprises a header and an information field, wherein the broadband switch node comprises a broadband input and output port for inputting and outputting the cells to and from the broadband inter-node transmission line, and a switch for separating the cells being input through the broadband input and output port and for multiplexing the cells so as to output them, wherein data composed of the plurality of cells is transmitted and received through the broadband switch node by constant bit rate transmission, variable bit rate transmission, or a combination of the constant bit rate transmission and the variable bit rate transmission.

Abstract: An optical amplifier having a two-stage construction using an erbium doped fiber (EDF) as a gain medium. The erbium dopant concentration is 1000 ppm, and the unsaturated absorption coefficient of the signal beam at 1550 nm is 1 dB/m. The length of the EDF 14-8 is 10 m, and the length of the EDF 14-12 is 70 m. The excitation light sources 14-6 and 14-10 are semiconductor lasers of 1.53 &mgr;m, and the excitation light power is 100 mW. Multiplexers 14-7 and 14-11 are inductive multi-layer film filters, and the gain equalizer 14-4 is a Fourier filter. The peak loss of the Fourier filter is 17 dB. The gain of the EDF 14-8 is 25 dB, and the gain of the EDF 14-12 is 15 dB. Two optical isolators are installed on a pre-stage amplifier, and one on a post-stage amplifier in order to prevent laser oscillation.

Abstract: A disk shaped tunable optical filter is formed by a transparent substrate in a disk shape, and a filter layer formed on a top surface of the substrate, having such a filter characteristic that a transmission central wavelength varies along a circumferential direction as a monotonic function of a viewing angle. This disk shaped tunable optical filter can be advatageously utilized in realizing a wavelength discrimination apparatus, a reference wavelength light generation apparatus, an optical packet generation apparatus, and a tunable optical filter module, which are also disclosed.

Abstract: The purpose of the invention is to offer an optical-frequency-stabilized light source with high accuracy and stability of the optical frequency. An optical splitter 8 splits output light from a local light source 7 into two beams. An optical detector 2 detects beat signals formed by the superimposition of the optical frequency difference between the local light source 7 and the output light, and a rectifier 3 rectifies the beat signal. A time measuring circuit 4 measures the time at which the beat signal was obtained. A frequency measuring circuit 5 measures the beat frequency. A CPU 6 outputs the deviation between the output light from the local light source 7 and the target optical frequency. A Fabry-Perot etalon transmission detection circuit 11 outputs an electrical signal corresponding to the optical frequency of the output light from an optical splitter 9.

Abstract: Broadband switching networks are disclosed, which have a plurality of broadband switch nodes and a broadband switch inter-node transmission line for connecting the plurality of broadband switch nodes, information being transmitted by cells, each of which comprises a header and an information field, wherein the broadband switch nodes comprise a broadband input and output port for inputting and outputting the cells to and from the broadband inter-node transmission line, and a switch for separating the cells being input through the broadband input and output port and for multiplexing the cells so as to output the cells, wherein data composed of the plurality of cells is transmitted and received through the broadband switch nodes by constant bit rate transmission, variable bit rate transmission, or a combination of the constant bit rate transmission and the variable bit rate transmission.

Abstract: Broadband switching networks are disclosed, which have a plurality of broadband switch nodes and a broadband switch inter-node transmission line for connecting the plurality of broadband switch nodes, information being transmitted by cells, each of which comprises a header and an information field, wherein the broadband switch nodes comprise a broadband input and output port for inputting and outputting the cells to and from the broadband inter-node transmission line, and a switch for separating the cells being input through the broadband input and output port and for multiplexing the cells so as to output the cells, wherein data composed of the plurality of cells is transmitted and received through the broadband switch nodes by constant bit rate transmission, variable bit rate transmission, or a combination of the constant bit rate transmission and the variable bit rate transmission.

Abstract: An optical frequency sweep signal generator using an optical frequency variable bandpass filter which can be practically used is provided.

Abstract: An optical pulse signal produced by modulating a continuous laser light by means of a first pulse having a period sufficiently shorter than the atomic lifetime in the upper energy state of a rare earth doped fiber is input to an optical amplifier to be measured, while an output signal from the optical amplifier is modulated by a second pulse synchronized with the first pulse and having a phase difference relative to the first pulse which can be optionally set so that rapid phase adjustment relative to the first pulse is possible based on the phase at the time of minimum optical power. The noise figure of the optical amplifier is then measured based on, the maximum photoelectric power (P.sub.AMP +P.sub.ASE) and the minimum photoelectric power P.sub.ASE of the resultant optical signal.

Abstract: A method and device for automatically and accurately measuring a noise figure of an optical amplifier are disclosed. In the method, light pulses which have different wavelengths .lambda..sub.1 .about..lambda..sub.n and have a period shorter than a time constant of extinction of the optical amplifier are generated. The light pulses thus generate are supplied to the optical amplifier. Powers P.sub.AMP1 .about.P.sub.AMPn of amplified lights outputted from the optical amplifier which correspond to the light pulses and have the wavelength .lambda..sub.1 .about..lambda..sub.n and powers P.sub.ASE1 .about.P.sub.ASEn of lights which have the wavelength .lambda..sub.1 .about..lambda..sub.n and are outputted from the optical amplifier when the amplified lights are not outputted from the optical amplifier are measured. Noise figures NF.sub.1 .about.NF.sub.n at the wavelengths .lambda..sub.1 .about..lambda..sub.n the optical amplifier are calculated according to the following equation.NF.sub.k =(P.sub.ASEk /h.nu..sub.

Abstract: The invention offers an optical fiber amplifier with good frequency characteristics which allows the gain to be held constant even without an input signal beam and allows gain control with respect to input optical signals with high-speed power fluctuations. An excitation beam source 8 supplies an excitation beam for light amplification and a control beam source 15 supplies a control beam for controlling the gain to an EDF 4 which amplifies a signal beam by means of optical excitation. An excitation beam monitor 9 measures the power of the excitation beam when inputted to the EDF 4 and an excitation beam monitor 12 measures the power of the excitation beam when outputted from the EDF 4. A comparator 11 calculates the ratio between the power measured by the excitation beam monitor 9 and the power measured by the excitation beam monitor 12. A drive circuit 14 controls the power of the control beam supplied by the control beam source 15 based on the results obtained by the comparator 11.

Abstract: An optical polarization controller comprises a polarization control element, a polarizer, a light divider and a photo-detector. The polarization control element rotates a plane of polarization of an Input signal light by a rotation angle in a predetermined rotational direction and outputs the result as a rotated signal light. The polarizer extracts a component of the rotated signal light having a predetermined plane of polarization and outputs the component as a polarized signal light. The light divider divides the polarized signal light into a plurality of polarized signal lights which have the same planes of polarization as the plane of the polarized light outputted by the polarizer. The photo-detector detects a level of one of the plurality of polarized signal lights and supplies a control signal indicating the level to the polarization control element.

Abstract: A noise determination apparatus for simple and precise determination of a noise factor of an optical fiber amplifier is presented. An optical pulse Pin is inputted via an optical coupler 2 into an optical looping circuit 14, and for every loop around the circuit 14, the spontaneous emission light generated in a rare-earth doped optic fiber amplifier 4 is integrated. The amplitude of the light intensity of the optical pulse train outputted from the optical splitter 3 decreases as the looping cycles are increased, and ultimately, the light intensity of the accumulated spontaneous emission light becomes equal to that of the optical pulse train. The pulse train outputted from the photodetector 7 diminishes. The number of pulses in the looping process from the initial pulse train to the expiration event are counted by means of a pulse counting device 8.

Abstract: A simple, quick and precise method for determining a noise factor of an optical amplifier system is presented and demonstrated with an apparatus based on rare-earth doped optical fibers. The method is based on rapid adjustments of the phase differentials between the input optical signals into and the output optical signals from the optical amplifier to compensate for system variables including the optical fiber lengths within the apparatus as well as in the ancillary devices. A cw laser source is modulated with a first pulse having a significantly shorter cycle than a lifetime of excited atoms within the doped fiber, and the modulated pulses are continually applied to the noise determining apparatus. The optical output signal from the apparatus is synchronized with the first pulse and the optical output signal is further modulated with a series of second pulses having increasing phase differentials in relation to the first pulse.

Abstract: A method and a system for measuring a noise figure of an optical amplifier which independently detects two different output powers generated from the optical amplifier under measurement. The generation of the first output power is in synchronization with a space period of an input optical pulsed signal, while the generation of the second output power is in synchronization with the mark period of the input optical pulsed signal. The-optical pulsed signal is an intensity-modulated signal given at a repetition period which is sufficiently shorter than the life time of carriers or the life time of ions in a metastable level of the optical amplifier under measurement.

Abstract: The object of the present invention is to control the amplification rate of a photoperiodic circuit by stable negative feedback control, thereby suppressing fluctuations in the circulating light in the photoperiodic circuit. The circulating light in the photoperiodic circuit is converted into an electrical signal, indicating the intensity of the circulating light, which is held in a first sample-and-hold circuit. Additionally, an electrical signal indicating the intensity of circulating light of the circuit previous to that of the first sample-and-hold circuit is held in a second sample-and-hold circuit. The difference in the value between the electrical signals which indicate intensities of the circulating light are determined by a subtraction circuit. The result is supplied to an addition circuit through a third sample-and-hold circuit.

Abstract: Since a transmission route is set in accordance with the number of relaying broad band switching nodes present between two terminating nodes of a plurality of broad band switching nodes, a through-put characteristic, an affecting degree due to occurrence of a defect, the traffic of the entire network is distributed. In addition, when the system is started up, transmission routes with a minimum band width necessary for routing control have been set in all the broad band switching nodes. Whenever a call takes place, a transmission route is set and the band width is variably set by using an intelligent inference mechanism. Moreover, an intelligent distributed control for distributing such an intelligent inference mechanism in the broad band switching nodes is used. Thus, the load of processing a call can be decreased, while the reliability of the network and the improvement of the operating efficiency can be achieved.

Abstract: A high fidelity optical amplifier having a stable amplification gain is presented. The problem of signal distortion in an output optical signal caused by an imbalance of light energy generation and consumption within the optical fiber is resolved by generating a delayed correction signal to be used in a feedback control circuitry. An incoming optical signal is split into two signals: one split signal is forwarded to a photo-detector element for generation of the correction signal while the other split signal is forwarded to a signal delay circuit. The optical delay circuit delays the timing of inputting the correction signal into output optical fiber for a specific duration of time to attain a full amplification gain within the optical fiber. The correction signal generation circuit performs differentiation of an electrical input signal followed by detection and selection of a maximum amplitude over a standard reference voltage.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for monitoring the noise figure of an optical amplifier such as used in linear repeaters in an optical transmission system formed by cascaded linear repeaters. The apparatus includes at least one optical amplifier for amplifying input signal light and a narrow bandwidth optical filter for removing amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) light generated at the optical amplifier. A gain detector is provided to detect the gain of the optical amplifier and an ASE optical power detector detects an optical power of the ASE light generated at the optical amplifier. The apparatus includes a splitter for splitting light entering into the narrow bandwidth optical filter and a local oscillator for generating local light having a wavelength displaced from a wavelength of the input signal light. The light split by the splitter is coupled with the local light generated by the local oscillator. An optical power detector makes a heterodyne detection of the optical power of the coupled light.