All-optical label extractor/eraser for in-band labels and 160-Gb/s payload based on microring resonators

Photonic integration of an all-optical packet switch (AOPS) is a crucial issue since it leads to a great reduction of volume, power consumption, and costs. Recently, a 1 × 4 AOPS was successfully demonstrated by using an all-optical label extractor/eraser. The label extractor/eraser was implemented by means of fiber Bragg gratings and optical circulators that prevent the photonic integration of the AOPS. Here, we demonstrate a passive and asynchronous photonic integrated all-optical label extractor/eraser by using narrowband silicon-nitride add-drop ring-resonators. By exploiting the narrow bandwidth of the drop port and pass-through port error-free simultaneous separation/erasing of the in-band labels from the 160-Gb/s packet payload was demonstrated without noticeable pulse-shape distortions.