660 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 32, NO.

4, FEBRUARY 15, 2014

All-Optical Signal Processing

Alan E. Willner, Fellow, IEEE, Fellow, OSA, Salman Khaleghi, Member, IEEE, Member, OSA,
Mohammad Reza Chitgarha, Student Member, IEEE, Student Member, OSA,
and Omer Faruk Yilmaz, Member, IEEE, Member, OSA

(Invited Tutorial)

Abstract—Optical signal processing brings together various

fields of optics and signal processing—namely, nonlinear devices
and processes, analog and digital signals, and advanced data modu-
lation formats—to achieve high-speed signal processing functions
that can potentially operate at the line rate of fiber optic com-
munications. Information can be encoded in amplitude, phase,
wavelength, polarization and spatial features of an optical wave
to achieve high-capacity transmission. We revisit advances in the
key enabling technologies that led to recent research in optical sig-
nal processing for digital signals that are encoded in one or more
of these dimensions. Various optical nonlinearities and chromatic
dispersion have been shown to enable key sub-system applications Fig. 1. Recent advances and enabling technologies for optical signal
such as wavelength conversion, multicasting, multiplexing, demul- processing.
tiplexing, and tunable optical delays. We review recent advances
in high-speed optical signal processing applications in the areas of
equalization, regeneration, flexible signal generation, and optical
control information (optical logic and correlation).
motivates the development of new applications and vice versa.
Owing to their relatively large bandwidth, optical interconnects
Index Terms—Modulation formats, nonlinear, optical logic, op- and communications have been considered as a potential solu-
tical signal processing, quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM).
tion to help electronics deliver high data capacities [2].
It is well-known that a lens does a Fourier transform [4];
however, lenses have not been used inside computers to per-
I. INTRODUCTION
form digital signal processing because either the input or output
ECHNOLOGY has enabled people in all walks of life to
T generate, store, and communicate enormous amounts of
data. Recent technological advances in high-speed backbone
should be in the optical domain to begin with and it may be
difficult to justify converting the signal from the electronics to
optics and back to electronics for performing a Fourier trans-
data networks, together with the growing trend of bandwidth- form. Nonetheless, optical signal processing has recently been
demanding applications such as data and video sharing, cloud revisited due to recent advances in five different areas of op-
computing, and data collection systems, have created a need for tical communications technologies that directly impact optical
higher capacities in signal transmission and signal processing. signal processing. These enabling technologies could make a
For instance, on YouTube alone, in every minute, over 10 years compelling argument for why certain functions could be exe-
of video is being watched and over 72 h new content is be- cuted optically, as noted in Fig. 1. Advanced optical modulation
ing uploaded [1], with about 25% of the traffic coming from techniques and coherent detection together with the use of high-
mobile devices. This traffic is expected to increase, because speed electronics (digital signal processing) can encode and
higher-capacity network infrastructures provide a platform that access information on the four optical domains of amplitude,
phase, polarization, and wavelength per a spatial mode. Impor-
tantly, advances in materials and devices which have resulted in
devices with higher nonlinearities and higher efficiencies, and
Manuscript received June 17, 2013; revised October 17, 2013; accepted photonic integrated circuits (PICs) technologies, are the key
October 18, 2013. Date of publication October 25, 2013; date of current version
January 10, 2014. This work was supported in part by the Defense Advanced Re- for any practical utilization of optical signal processing in the
search Project Agency under Grants FA8650-08-1-7820, HR0011-11-1-0015, future [3].
and W911NF-10-1-0151, National Science Foundation (NSF) award 1202575, A key motivation for using optical signal processing is that
NSF CIAN under contract 0812072, and Cisco Systems.
A. E. Willner and M. R. Chitgarha are with the Ming Hsieh Department optical techniques do not need to “touch” or switch every indi-
of Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA vidual “bit,” as electronic transistors do. Optical amplifiers, for
90089 USA (e-mail: willner@usc.edu; chitgarh@usc.edu). instance, can amplify Tb/s signals without touching the signal
S. Khaleghi and O. F. Yilmaz were with the Ming Hsieh Department of Elec-
trical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089 at the bit level. Another example is basic wavelength conver-
USA. They are now with Infinera Corporation, Sunnyvale, CA 94089 USA sion using a laser pump and a nonlinear device, where the data
(e-mail: khaleghi@usc.edu; omerfarukyilmaz@gmail.com). information can be transferred from one carrier wavelength to
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. another at a very fast speed (nonlinearities have femtosecond
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JLT.2013.2287219 response times) as optical signals fly through the device [5].
0733-8724 © 2013 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
WILLNER et al.: ALL-OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING
(a)
(b)
Fig. 2. (a) Example of optically-assisted processing: optical correlators could
help to recognize packet headers and reduce the look-up time for network routing
applications [9]. (b) Example of pattern search in large data: optical correlators
can recognize patterns at Tb/s speeds to identify regions of interest and leave
the accurate processing to electronics that run at Gb/s speeds.
As another popular example, a mirror based on micro-electro-
mechanical systems (MEMS) technology can be tilted to reroute
traffic from one output port to another without processing it at
the bit-level [6], [7]. In the case of an optical correlator for
searching for a data pattern in an incoming optical signal, the
correlator can add optical bits to create a large peak and an elec-
tronic thresholder can be used at a much slower speed to signal
whenever an optical matching peak occurs [8], [9]. Another sim-
ple application can be an optical tapped-delay-line which is the
fundamental building block for optical signal processing and
will be discussed in detail in this tutorial [10], [11]. On the other
hand, electronic signal processing may better suit applications
that require massive amounts of memory with random access.
Alternatively, another application can be “optically assisted”
signal processing, as opposed to pure electrical or optical signal
processing. Optically assisted signal processing can use optics
for what it does well and electronics for what it does best. Optics
can perform few functions very fast and electronics is best for
doing accurate complex computations with buffers and mem-
ory. Fig. 2(a), for example, depicts the concept of an optically
assisted network routing technique using optical correlation on
headers of Internet data packets [9]. Currently, most Internet
traffic is destined to a few popular websites. The calculation
in [12] shows that utilizing optical correlators only to help iden-
tify packets headed toward these popular destinations could as-
sist in routing the packets and reducing latency because only a
fraction of traffic is left to be fully processed electronically. In a
similar manner, optically assisted signal processing can be used
to search for a target pattern in large amounts of data, as shown
in Fig. 2(b). The massive data information can be encoded on an
optical carrier at Tb/s speed to be sent into an optical correlator
661
Fig. 3. Nonlinearities and optical wave parameters used for data encoding and
signal processing.
for pattern recognition. The optical correlator can then identify
regions of interest where a match may occur, which may be once
every thousand bits. Therefore, the output can be at Gb/s speeds,
which can then be searched and processed electronically with
high accuracy before being made available to the user.
Optical signal processing exploits various physical phenom-
ena and devices. First are the nonlinear optical processes that
comprise a substantial portion of optical signal processing. The
femtosecond response time of nonlinearities in optical materials
can be used to process and manipulate data signals. Third-order
susceptibility χ(3) could give rise to nonlinear Kerr-effects such
as four wave mixing (FWM), self phase modulation (SPM), and
cross phase modulation (XPM) (see Fig. 3). Second-order sus-
ceptibility χ(2) results in three wave mixing in the form of sum
frequency generation (SFG), difference frequency generation
(DFG), and second harmonic generation (SHG), and devices can
be designed to produce cascading of such mixings in the same
nonlinear element [13]–[15]. Second, various optical materials
and devices have been utilized for optical signal processing,
including highly nonlinear fibers (HNLFs) [16], semiconduc-
tor optical amplifiers (SOAs) [17], silicon waveguides [3], [18],
chalcogenide waveguides [19], [20], periodically poled lithium
niobate (PPLN) waveguides [15], and photonic crystals [21].
Third, in order to encode and manipulate information, optics can
exploit the four dimensions of amplitude, phase, wavelength and
polarization, which differentiates optical processing from elec-
tronic processing. Fourth are the functions that can be performed
with these nonlinear devices, including wavelength conversion,
optical multiplexing and demultiplexing, multicasting, equal-
ization, correlation, fast/discrete Fourier transform (FFT/DFT),
digital-to-analog (D/A), and analog-to-digital (A/D) conver-
sions, regeneration, optical logic gates (AND, OR, XOR, etc.),
all-optical tunable delays, and more.
The term “optical signal processing” can refer to a broad
range of techniques that operate on optical data signals. It can
include widely used systems such an optical amplifiers and
dispersion compensating fibers as well as systems such as op-
tical pulse shapers, wavelength converters, optical multiplex-
ing and demultiplexing, equalizers, optical switches, optical
memories [22], [23], and various areas of microwave photonics
[24], [25]. These optical signal processing techniques may work
662
on digital, analog, or both types of optical signals. For the scope
of this tutorial, we will focus mostly on data grooming tech-
niques that operate on digital signals at the speed of optical line
rate, the basic building blocks that enable them and the main
physical phenomena and technologies that are utilized to create
them.
In comparing optics and electronics for signal processing,
one should consider the advantages of both and consider the
potential uses of each. One can avoid optical-to-electrical-to-
optical (OEO) conversion and perform processing at the very
high-speed line rate of optics, if the signals are already in the
optical domain. Due to the spectral efficiency of optical sig-
nals, in one symbol time, one can optically process many bits
of information. Electronics, on the other hand, is a very mature
technology with easy memory access and massive integration
capabilities for accurate signal processing. To compare the per-
formance of the optical signal processing technique with that of
the electronics, one can consider many parameters such as sig-
nal quality (e.g., signal-to-noise ratio degradation), the ability
to process a signal at the line rate of optics, and power con-
sumption. The analysis of the power consumption of the optical
techniques must include not only the optical pump powers and
nonlinear efficiencies, but also the electronic power consump-
tion required to run the optical components. As such, the power
analysis may depend significantly on the specific details of the
components used in the systems and is not available for most
experiments. Therefore, because of its multi-parameter nature,
the analysis of the power consumption of different techniques
is beyond the scope of this tutorial. In [26] and [27], it has been
reported that optical signal processing can potentially compete
with electronics in very high-speed systems that provide only
limited functions and, for applications that need more than basic
processing, electronics can provide better energy efficiency and
a smaller footprint.
The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. In
Section II, we will discuss the main technologies that can enable
high-capacity optical signal processing from a systems perspec-
tive. In Section III, we will review a few basic operations that
comprise the fundamental blocks for realizing the advanced
signal processing functions that are presented in Sections IV
and V. Section IV reviews data grooming applications, includ-
ing equalization, regeneration, and optical flexible transmitters.
Section V will discuss applications aimed to generate the con-
trol information, including optical logic and correlation (pattern
matching). A brief conclusion will be presented in Section VI.
II. BASIC ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES
In this section, we overview some of the basic enabling tech-
nologies that make possible the all-optical processing of digital
signals. We first discuss advanced modulation formats that allow
for encoding multiple information bits onto one symbol time.
We continue this section by reviewing some ultra-fast nonlinear
processes that are widely utilized in optical signal processing
applications. Finally, we provide an overarching summary of
some optical materials and devices commonly used for optical
signal processing from a systems point of view.
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 32, NO. 4, FEBRUARY 15, 2014
Fig. 4. Advanced modulation formats using amplitude and phase domains,
with independent polarization and wavelength multiplexing.
A. Modulation Formats and Coherent Detection
Information bits can be imprinted on the amplitude and/or
phase of an optical wave [28], [29]. Coherent homodyne detec-
tion can be used to recover the amplitude and phase, which can
then be used to decode the information bits. In general, n bits
of information can form M = 2n states. Each of these M states
can be mapped to an amplitude and phase symbol in the com-
plex plane, as depicted in Fig. 4. Furthermore, wavelength divi-
sion multiplexing (WDM) and polarization multiplexing (PM)
(X and Y polarizations) can also be utilized to multiplex signals
into other dimensions of an optical wave and increase the spec-
tral efficiency (i.e., the number of transmitted bits per second per
one Hz of bandwidth). As shown in the signal constellation dia-
grams in Fig. 4, one can choose different symbols with distinct
amplitudes, distinct phases, or a combination of different am-
plitudes and phases. These three cases result in amplitude shift
keying (ASK), phase shift keying (PSK) and quadrate amplitude
modulation (QAM), respectively. On channel λ2 in Fig. 4, for
instance, a 16-QAM signal is encoded on the X-polarization of
the optical wave and an 8-PSK signal is encoded independently
on the Y-polarization. Because these symbols are in the complex
domain, instead of using amplitude and phase, one can alterna-
tively define a symbol using real (Re) and imaginary (Im) parts
of the symbol. In communications theory, the former is known
as the in-phase (I) and the latter as the quadrature (Q) component
of the data symbol.
Traditionally, optical communication systems that use direct
detection can distinguish between different levels of amplitude
(intensity) but not phase. Thus, on-off-keyed (OOK) optical
signals (xi ∈ {0, 1}) can easily be received with direct detec-
tion, but PSK signals need to be differentially encoded to be
received via direct detection. Signals carrying differential mod-
ulation formats such as differential binary-phase-shift-keying
(DPSK) (xi ∈ {−1, +1}) and differential quadrate-phase-shift-
keying (DQPSK) (xi ∈ {ej π /4 , ej 3π /4 , ej 5π /4 , ej 7π /4 }) need
to be sent to an optical delay-line-interferometer (DLI) with
one symbol time delay between its two arms to convert distinct
phase levels of the input signal to distinct amplitude levels that
can be detected directly in a photodiode. Whether amplitude or
phase of the optical carrier are varied to write data bits onto the
optical wave, during a symbol time, the shape of the amplitude
can be flat (non-return-to-zero, NRZ) or pulse-like (i.e., return-
to-zero, RZ), resulting in NRZ- and RZ-D(Q)PSK signals as
well as NRZ- and RZ-OOK signals [28].
WILLNER et al.: ALL-OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING
With recent advances in high-speed A/D converters, optical
coherent detection has received increasing interest. Optical co-
herent receivers can recover the amplitude and phase of a polar-
ization multiplexed signal with the aid of a local oscillator (LO)
that can be a continuous-wave (CW) laser [30]. In an optical
coherent receiver, the input data signal with electric field ampli-
tude ES (t) is split and combined with the LO with electric field
EL O and 90◦ -phase-shifted copies of it, and is then sent into
two balanced photodiodes (BPDs). The BPDs are bandwidth-
limited square-law devices and thus give a radio frequency (RF)
current proportional to
iI ∝ |ES (t) + EL O |2 − |ES (t) − EL O |2 (1)
iQ ∝ |ES (t) − jEL O |2 − |ES (t) + jEL O |2 . (2)
Thus, the output currents are
iI ∝ |EL O ES (t)|
× cos((ωS − ωL O )t + (∠ES (t) − ∠EL O )) (3)
iQ ∝ |EL O ES (t)|
 π
× cos (ωS − ωL O )t + (∠ES (t) − ∠EL O ) − . (4)
2 order nonlinear processes (χ(3) ), can result in FWM, SPM, and
In the BPDs, the signal and LO powers cancel out such that
the output currents only contain the beating term between the
signal and the LO. The beating in BPDs also generates a term
at twice the carrier frequency of the optical signal, which falls
far outside the RF bandwidth of the photodiodes. In a simplified
model of the coherent receivers, if the signal and the LO are
fully phase and frequency synchronized (i.e., ωS = ωL O and
∠EL O = 0), then the alternate-current (AC) part of the two PD
currents are proportional to
iI ,A C ∝ |ES (t)| cos(∠ES (t)) (5)
iQ ,A C ∝ |ES (t)| sin(∠ES (t)) . (6)
Therefore, the data signal has been shifted from the optical
carrier frequency to the base-band where the information in the
I and Q components can be recovered electronically. Two high-
speed A/D converters can sample these currents to fully recover
all the information of the signal using DSP techniques.
In the more general case for the detection of polarization
multiplexed signals, a polarization diversity coherent receiver
is used, which employs polarization beam splitters, 90◦ optical
hybrids, and BPDs to recover in-phase and quadrature compo-
nents for both X- and Y-polarizations [30]. DSP algorithms can
track and correct for LO frequency and phase mismatches (car-
rier recovery), and can undo the degrading effects of chromatic
dispersion (CD), polarization mode dispersion (PMD), polar-
ization dispersion loss (PDL), and some nonlinearities [31].
B. Nonlinear Processes
Nonlinear photonic interactions have been exploited to ma-
nipulate and process information of an optical data signal. Kerr
nonlinearities have femtosecond response times and can mix
and vary optical signals over bandwidths beyond THz; there-
fore, they have long been considered as an enabling technology
663
(a) (b)
Fig. 5. Third-order χ (3 ) nonlinear processes: (a) degenerate and (b) nonde-
generate four wave mixing (FWM) schemes for generation of (phase conjugate)
signal copy. ZDW: zero dispersion wavelength.
for all-optical signal processing [16]. In this section, we pro-
vide an overview of some nonlinear processes that are widely
used for optical signal processing. In general, “wave mixing” is
a process during which multiple optical waves at different fre-
quencies interact with each other and generate an idler signal at
a new frequency. These wave-mixing interactions are generally
governed by a set of two rules: 1) conservation of energy, and
2) phase matching conditions, which is a form of conservation
of momentum [13], [14].
We overview the χ(2) and χ(3) nonlinear processes. The third-
XPM [14]. χ(2) nonlinearities can mix two waves and create
mixing products such as SHG, SFG, DFG, and a cascading of
such mixing terms [15].
1) FWM: FWM is the wave mixing process whereby three
input waves mix under the phase-matching conditions in a non-
linear medium to produce a fourth wave. Fig. 5 depicts the
schematic spectra of two different types of FWM, namely de-
generate and non-degenerate FWM. In degenerate FWM [see
Fig. 5(a)], a CW pump at angular frequency ωpu m p and a
data signal at frequency ωsig n al are combined and sent into
a χ(3) nonlinear medium such as HNLF. If the pump is located
around the zero-dispersion-wavelength (ZDW) of the nonlin-
ear medium, then the phase matching conditions are met and
the conservation of energy rule determines the frequency of the
newly generated (converted) wave as follows:
ωcon v = 2 ωpu m p − ωsig n al . (7)
Similarly, the electric field of the converted signal is propor-
tional to
∗
Econ v (t) ∝ (Epu m p )2 Esig n al (t) (8)
in which, “∗ ” denotes the complex conjugate of the field. Thus,
the converted signal is a “wavelength converted” and “phase-
conjugate” copy of the original data signal. In this tutorial, we
generally tend to drop the time dependency term for the CW
pumps in order to emphasize and distinguish between data-
modulated signals and CW pumps. In the degenerate FWM, if
the data-modulated signal is used as the pump, then the con-
verted signal is proportional to the square of the signal field.
Therefore, it neither conserves the phase information of the
original signal, nor preserves the intensity shape.
In the non-degenerate FWM scheme, shown in Fig. 5(b),
two pumps at frequencies ωpu m p1 and ωpu m p2 located around
the ZDW of the medium, and the input signal at ωsig n al are
664
(a) (b)
Fig. 6. Cascaded second-order χ (2 ) nonlinear processes: (a) cascaded sum
and difference frequency generations (cSFG-DFG) and (b) second harmonic
generation and DFG (cSHF-DFG) for wavelength conversion in a PPLN device.
QPM: quasi-phase matching.
combined and sent into the nonlinear device. If the medium
has a flat dispersion slope around the ZDW, phase-matching
conditions hold for FWM between these pumps and signals,
resulting in the generation of the many mixing products such as
ωcon v 1 = 2 ωpu m p1 − ωsig n al
ωcon v 2 = ωpu m p1 + ωpu m p2 − ωsig n al
ωcon v 3 = ωsig n al + ωpu m p2 − ωpu m p1
with the electric field amplitudes proportional to
∗
Econ v 1 (t) ∝ (Epu m p1 )2 Esig
n al (t)
∗
Econ v 2 (t) ∝ Epu m p1 Epu m p2 Esig n al (t)
Econ v 3 (t) ∝ ∗
Esig n al (t) Epu m p2 Epu . (14)
m p1
Thus, multiple wave-mixing interactions occur simulta-
neously in the two-pump scheme resulting in both phase-
conjugating and non-phase-conjugating wavelength conver-
sions. We note that other mixing terms such as 2ωpu m p2 −
ωsig n al can also be generated but may be small due to non-
optimal phase matching, especially when signals and pump are
far from the ZDW. In (12)–(14), it is worth mentioning that, be-
cause FWM involves two frequencies being added and one sub-
tracted, if the input pumps happen to be in the same frequency
band (e.g., C-band), then the generated wavelength converted
signals also generally tend to appear in the same band.
2) Three Wave Mixing: χ(2) nonlinear media can mix two
optical waves (e.g., at ω1 and ω2 ) under phase-matching condi-
tions and generate a third wave at the sum frequency (ωS F G =
ω1 + ω2 ) and difference frequency (ωD F G = ω1 − ω2 ). In the
case of one input pump, instead of sum frequency the second
harmonic term ωS H G = 2 ω1 is generated. As can be noted,
if the two input signals are in the same frequency band (e.g.,
∼1550 nm), the SHG/SFG term is at ∼775 nm, which is in a
different frequency band. In many χ(2) nonlinear signal pro-
cessing demonstrations, there has been an interest in keeping
the generated signals in the same frequency band as the input
signals by means of cascading SFG and DFG (cSFG-DFG) or
SHG and DFG (cSHG-DFG), as shown in Fig. 6(a) and (b),
respectively.
PPLN devices can serve as a medium for χ(2) nonlinear in-
teractions. Due to their suitable nonlinear mixing efficiency,
relatively low propagation loss, and ease of fabrication, these
devices may allow the implementation of some advanced all-
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 32, NO. 4, FEBRUARY 15, 2014
optical signal-processing functions at bandwidths beyond THz
[15].
Instead of true phase-velocity matching, the quasi-
phasematching (QPM) technique is used in PPLN waveguide
designs, in which a periodic sign change in the nonlinear sus-
ceptibility of the medium compensates for the velocity mismatch
of the interacting waves [15]. From a systems point of view, the
QPM wavelength in PPLN devices is very similar to ZDW in
HNLFs in the sense that pumps generally need to be placed sym-
metrically around the QPM wavelength in order for the wave
mixings to occur.
a) cSFG-DFG: As depicted in Fig. 6(a), when a data
signal (ωsig n al ) and a pump (ωpu m p ) that are symmetri-
cally located around the QPM wavelength are sent into a
PPLN device, they produce the sum frequency product at
ωS F G = ωsig n al + ωpu m p = 2 ωQ P M , whose amplitude is pro-
portional to ES F G (t) ∝ Esig n al (t)Epu m p . If another dummy
(9) pump (ωdu m m y ) is also sent into the PPLN device together with
the pump and the signal, then the SFG signal can mix with
(10)
ωdu m m y through the DFG process and create a converted signal
(11) at frequency ωcon v = ωS F G − ωdu m m y , with field amplitude
∗
proportional to Econ v (t) ∝ ES F G (t)Edu m m y . Therefore, the
converted signal results from the mixing of the three input sig-
nals and its center frequency and field amplitude are determined
(12)
by
(13)
ωcon v = ωsig n al + ωpu m p − ωdu m m y (15)
∗
Econ v (t) ∝ Esig n al (t)Epu m p Edu mmy . (16)
b) cSHG-DFG: Instead of using two pumps for SFG, one
can only inject a pump that has the same frequency as the QPM
frequency, to produce SHG at frequency ωS H G = 2 ωpu m p with
field amplitude ES H G ∝ (Epu m p )2 . The SHG term can then
mix with the signal to produce a phase-conjugate wavelength-
converted signal at
ωcon v = 2 ωpu m p − ωsig n al (17)
∗
Econ v (t) ∝ (Epu m p )2
Esig n al (t) . (18)
The mathematical relations of cSFG-DFG and cSHG-DFG
resemble non-degenerate and degenerate FWM, respectively.
Therefore, as illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, these cascaded χ(2)
processes can be viewed as quasi-FWM processes. It is impor-
tant to note that wavelength conversion schemes that are based
on these wave mixing interactions maintain the data that is mod-
ulated on the amplitude and phase of input signal.
3) SPM and XPM: The intensity of optical signals can mod-
ulate the refractive index of the medium in which they are
propagating. This instantaneous change in the refractive index
instantaneously changes the optical path length and causes a
“nonlinear phase shift” on the signals. The nonlinear phase shift
is given by [14]
⎛ ⎞

φN L (t) = γ Lef f ⎝Psig n al (t) + 2 Pi (t)⎠ (19)
i= sig n al
WILLNER et al.: ALL-OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING
Fig. 7. Nonlinear phase shift results in (i) self phase modulation (SPM), that
causes spectral broadening, and (ii) cross phase modulation (XPM), that creates
cross-talk on a certain channel from the other channels.
in which γ is the nonlinear parameter, Lef f is the effective
length of the medium, and Pi denotes the power of the ith
co-propagating wavelength channel.
For any given signal with power Psig n al (t), the phase
modulation induced by nonlinear phase shift has two parts:
1) SPM as a result of γ Lef f Psig n al (t), and 2) XPM because
(3)
of 2γ Lef f i= sig n al Pi (t). The third-order susceptibility χ
is a tensor of rank four that creates the nonlinear polariza-
tion PN L (t) = 0 χ(3) E(t)E(t)E(t) and causes the nonlinear
phase shift in (19), (E(t) = Esig n al (t) + i= sig n al Ei (t)). In
the multiplication of the three fields, due to the phase-matching
condition, the nonlinear phase shift induced on the signal at
ωsig n al is caused by the products that land at ωsig n al . Because
the number of multiplication terms that land at ωsig n al dou-
bles when different frequency channels are involved (Ei= sig n al )
compared with the degenerate case (Esig n al ), the XPM is twice
as effective as SPM.
Fig. 7 depicts an example where an amplitude modulated data
signal and a CW pump are injected into a nonlinear medium.
SPM causes spectral broadening on the signal, while the CW
pump experiences XPM from the data signal. Thus, the infor-
mation of the data signal is transferred to the CW pump through
XPM and can be recovered by appropriately-offset side-band fil-
tering. The SPM can be utilized for supercontinuum generation,
for instance [32].
Because nonlinear phase shift is induced as a result of the
power variations of the input signals, XPM and SPM pro-
cesses are generally more suitable for applications that involve
amplitude-modulated signals (e.g., OOK).
C. Materials and Devices
Various materials and devices have been utilized for opti-
cal signal processing, and the choice of a nonlinear device is a
trade-off between many figures of merit, such as high nonlinear
efficiency, wide and flat bandwidth, low loss, data format trans-
parency (to maintain phase and amplitude modulation), simulta-
neous wave mixings for simultaneous operations, low dispersion
for phase matching, and low two photon absorption [33].
Materials such as silica, lithium niobate, silicon, bismuth ox-
ide, chalcogenide, semiconductors, and multiple quantum well
are used to create nonlinear optical devices suitable for sig-
nal processing. Various devices such as HNLF, rib waveguides,
PPLN waveguides, nanowire waveguides, SOAs that use these
materials might perform well in the implementation of certain
functions. For example, large conversion bandwidth and simul-
665
Fig. 8. Having multiple mixing terms may be desirable (e.g., simultaneous
generation of mixing terms) or unwanted (e.g., when it would waste part of the
spectrum and create cross-talk on desired signals).
taneous wave mixing in low-dispersion HNLFs can be exploited
for supercontinuum generation; however, on the other hand, due
to a wide phase matching bandwidth, HNLF may produce a lot
of extra parasitic mixing terms that may 1) occupy bandwidth,
and 2) create cross-talk on the desired signal. This concept is
shown in Fig. 8, where a FWM scheme in HNLF is utilized
to create multiplications of signals A and B and their phase
conjugates. As shown in the spectral diagram, the extra mix-
ing products that appear due to high efficiency and easy phase
matching in a low dispersion HNLF can “fill up” the bandwidth
through generation of unwanted signals proportional to A∗ , B ∗ ,
and B 2 , for example.
In general, the optical nonlinearities are not very efficient, and
one requires high optical powers to utilize them for signal pro-
cessing. Although nonlinearities in HNLFs are high, the draw-
backs of using HNLFs are that the system may become bulky
and the signal quality may degrade if more complex systems
are to be built using them. Optical integration using nonlinear
waveguides can help with the system size. One must also note
that the ability of nonlinearities to process the optical signals
(e.g., wavelength conversion) at the line rate is a key feature
that may be costly to realize using electronics at high data rates.
For example, to realize wavelength converters for a set of WDM
channels, one may consider trading the signal-to-noise ratio for
a lower cost by using nonlinear wavelength converters instead
of a set of costly OEO conversions.
III. BASIC ENABLING OPERATIONS
In this section we overview some of the basic operations
that enable optical signal processing, including signal multicas-
ting, multiplexing and demultiplexing, and tunable all-optical
delays. Wavelength multicasting is a process that creates multi-
ple replicas of a data signal onto selective predetermined wave-
lengths [34]. Optical signal multiplexing combines multiple data
signals that may be on different amplitudes, phases, wavelength
channels, polarizations, or time slots into one data channel [35]–
[37]. Optical demultiplexing refers to the processes that can de-
compose a data signal into its constituting tributaries [16], [35].
Finally, tunable all-optical delays provide the means for delay-
ing an optical signal over a finite continuous range [38].
A. Wavelength Multicasting
Optical wavelength multicasting utilizes nonlinearities to cre-
ate multiple copies of the input data signal at different output
wavelengths [39], [40]. Various materials, nonlinear processes,
numbers of pumps, and pump configurations can be exploited
for multicasting.
666
(a) (b)
Fig. 9. Various nonlinear schemes for optical multicasting: (a) degenerate FWM, requiring N pumps for N -fold multicasting [41], (b) multi-pump FWM,
requiring (N + 1)/2 pumps for N -fold multicasting [42], and (c) supercontinuum generation followed by periodic filtering, requiring a short-pulse pump
source [34].
Fig. 9 depicts conceptual spectra and sample experimental re-
sults on some of these multicasting techniques [34]. In Fig. 9(a),
to create N signal copies, the input data signal at frequency
ωsig n al is sent to a nonlinear device together with N pumps at
frequencies ωpu m p,i (i = 1, . . . , N ) to create N copies of the
input signal at 2ωsig n al − ωpu m p,i through degenerate FWM.
Fig. 9(a), shows the output spectrum and the input/output eye
diagrams for 16-fold multicasting of a 40-Gb/s optical data sig-
nals in a silicon waveguide [41]. Although this technique can
preserve the information on amplitude-modulated signals (e.g.,
OOK), it may distort the pulse shapes, amplitude levels, and
phases because the optical fields of the output copies are pro-
portional to the square of the input signal field. In this scheme,
each signal copy can be independently controlled by the CW
pump laser that generates it. This feature may be useful for
optical signal processing applications that require independent
control over the amplitude, wavelength, and the number of out-
put copies.
Fig. 9(b), shows another method that utilizes nondegenerate
FWM. In this manner, N/2 CW pumps are required to generate
N copies of the data signal [42], [43]. In this scheme, some out-
put signals are phase-conjugate, and because fewer CW pumps
are used, the power or wavelength of the generated copies can
hardly be varied without affecting the power or wavelength of
other signal copies. On the other hand, in non-degenerate FWM,
the output field is proportional to the field of the input signal (or
its conjugate); thus, the pulse shape and phase information can
generally be preserved. Therefore, the phase-modulated signals
are better supported using this scheme compared to degener-
ate FWM. Experimental results of one such demonstration are
shown in Fig. 9(b), where a 320-Gb/s OOK signal is multicast
to eight copies using 4 CW pump lasers and HNLF [42].
Supercontinuum generation can also be utilized for signal
multicasting, as shown in Fig. 9(c) [34]. Supercontinuum in cre-
ated when different nonlinear processes such as SPM, FWM,
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 32, NO. 4, FEBRUARY 15, 2014
(c)
and Raman scattering can interact with each other to cause a
significant spectral broadening [32]. Typically, high-power nar-
row pulsewidths are required to generate the supercontinuum.
The supercontinuum can be filtered with a periodic optical fil-
ter to create simultaneous and multiple copies of the original
data signal. Fig. 9(c), shows experimental results on 24-fold
multicasting of 40-Gb/s OOK signals [34]. The diagram on the
left shows the superimposed spectra of the input and output of
the HNLF that creates the supercontinuum, and the one on the
right shows the periodically filtered spectrum and some sam-
ple output eye diagrams. It has been shown that this method
can also support phase-modulated signals for low input power
levels [44]. Although this method can provide multiple copies
of the input signal without the need for CW pumps, it can
hardly allow for independent control over the properties of the
outputs.
Beside these three techniques, several other methods and non-
linearities have also been exploited for multicasting purposes.
These include methods that are based on XPM [45], cSFG-DFG
in PPLN waveguides [46], cross gain modulation, and cross ab-
sorption modulation in SOAs, where the input signal modulates
the gain or absorption of the semiconductor medium which
then transfers to the CW lasers that propagate through the same
medium [47].
B. Multiplexing and Demultiplexing
Various techniques have been considered for optical mul-
tiplexing of WDM data channels to an optical time division
multiplexed (OTDM) channel and demultiplexing a low-speed
tributary from a high-speed OTDM signal. These include the
use of XPM in HNLFs [48], FWM in HNLFs and waveg-
uides [37], [33], and cSFG-DFG in PPLN devices [49]. OTDM
signals can simultaneously use advanced modulation formats to
increase data capacity [50].
WILLNER et al.: ALL-OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING 667

(a) (b)

Fig. 10. Concept of active optical multiplexing and demultiplexing using

nonlinearities: WDM channels that utilize short-duration data pulses are time (c)
aligned such that their data pulses minimally overlap, and optically multiplexed
to one wavelength channel in a nonlinear element. For demultiplexing, a sam-
pling pump source is time-aligned and multiplied by the signal in a nonlinear
device.

Passive techniques that utilize optical power combiners and

polarization beam combiners have also been used to multiplex
low-baud-rate, short-pulse data signals to high-speed OTDM
signals [50].
1) Active Optical Multiplexing: Fig. 10 depicts the time do-
main schematic for the optical multiplexing of different WDM
data signals to a high baud-rate OTDM signal followed by a
demultiplexing stage. Each WDM data signal occupies a por-
tion of the symbol time, such that after optical time alignment
they can be interleaved in a nonlinear element with negligible
interference. For example, 16 input data channels at 40-Gb/s
have been multiplexed to a 640-Gb/s channel through XPM
in an HNLF followed by another nonlinear stage for down-
sampling (demultiplexing) the 640-Gb/s signal to its 10-Gb/s
tributaries [51]. To do this, the 640-Gb/s OTDM data signal is
optically sampled using a sequence of short pulses at a 10 GHz
repetition rate. This results in the extraction of a 10 Gb/s trib-
utary of one of the 16 input 40-Gb/s WDM channels from the
multiplexed 640-Gb/s OTDM signal. Although the data format
used in the following examples may be OOK, the technique can
also work on phase-modulated signals [50].
A nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM) has long been used
as a method for signal multiplexing and demultiplexing. As
shown in Fig. 11(a), in principle, the NOLM is an interfer-
ometer in which the interfering signals propagate in counter
directions; in one direction, the signal may be affected by non-
linear interactions with other signals [14]. In an NOLM, when
the nonlinearities are low, the input signal (signal B) comes out
as fully destructive in the output of the NOLM; however, when
signals A1 to An create XPM on signal B, then signal B’s phase
is changed in that direction of the loop; therefore, the output of
the NOLM becomes more constructive. The interferometer ba-
sically transfers the XPM-induced phase to intensity. Fig. 11(b)
shows the conceptual equivalent logic function of the NOLM.
The physical interactions of XPM and interferometry can be
viewed as follows. When the multiplexing of signals A1 to An
is nonzero, signal B comes out of the NOLM as “1,” and when
signals A1 to An are zero, signal B is blocked (“0”). The NOLM
can be used for both multiplexing and demultiplexing. Fig. 11(c)
shows schematic and experimental results for multiplexing of
16 OOK WDM channels at 40-Gb/s to a single channel at
640-Gb/s. Signal B here is a CW pump that gets modulated after
Fig. 11. Nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM): (a) Principle of operation
of the NOLM (signal B is split and sent into two directions, one with low
nonlinearities and one with high nonlinearities, the two are then added to create
interference.) (b) Equivalent logic/application function of the NOLM. (c) Mul-
tiplexing of 16 40 Gb/s OOK WDM signals to a 640-Gb/s wavelength channel,
and demultiplexing of the 640-Gb/s OOK signal to its 10-Gb/s tributaries, using
the NOLM [51]. HNLF: highly nonlinear fiber.
Fig. 12. Nonlinear optical demultiplexing of 640-to-10-Gb/s in a chalcogenide
waveguide: device structure, experimental spectrum, and eye diagram [19].
the NOLM due to the XPM by the 16 time-interleaved WDM
channels. Subsequently, this 640 Gb/s channel can be sent to an
NOLM as signal A1 , while signal B is a sampling short-pulse
pump with a 10 GHz repetition rate, resulting in demultiplexing
(down-sampling) of the 640-Gb/s signal to 10-Gb/s [51].
FWM in chalcogenide waveguides have also been utilized for
OTDM demultiplexing, as shown in Fig. 12. 10-GHz repetition
rate control pulses demultiplex a 640-Gb/s OTDM signal down
to 10-Gb/s. The spectra after the FWM and the filtered output are
shown in Fig. 12, together with the eye diagram of an extracted
10-Gb/s tributary [19].
2) Passive Optical Multiplexing: High baud rate OTDM sig-
nals can be generated at the transmitter by modulating a short-
pulse low-repetition rate pump source with data signals and then
passively delaying and combining them into proper time slots
and polarizations. As shown in Fig. 13, a 10-GHz repetition
rate short-pulse laser is modulated to create a 20-Gb/s DQPSK
signal. The signal is then passively split, delayed and combined
668
Fig. 13. Concept of passive optical multiplexing to achieve 5.12 Tb/s data
speed on a single wavelength channel (1.28 TBd polarization-multiplexed
DQPSK signal) [50].
to create a multiplexed signal at a 128-times-higher baud rate
(1.28 TBd). The 2.56-Tb/s signal is then split and multiplexed
in a polarization beam combiner to double the data bit rate to
5.12 Tb/s (two polarizations, 2 bit/sybmol DQPSK, 1.28 TBd)
[50].
C. Tunable Optical Delays
Many signal processing functions require the addition of de-
layed and weighted copies of an input signal. A tapped-delay-
line or a finite impulse response (FIR) filter utilizes delayed
copies of the input signal to process digital as well as analog
signals. Digital applications may include equalization, correla-
tion, discrete Fourier transform, modulation format conversion,
and synchronization [52]–[54]. Analog applications include a
wide range of D/A and A/D conversions, microwave delays for
phased array antennas, FIR filtering and matched filtering, and
other microwave photonic applications [24], [25], [55]–[58].
Traditionally, delays have been created by sending a signal
through a fixed optical path [59]. Having tunable optical delays,
can create possibilities of devising optical signal processing
techniques capable of accommodating the heterogeneous data
traffic of future networks, baud-rate-adjustable signal process-
ing, and arbitrary filter designs.
One way to realize continuously tunable optical delays is to
use the relative delay induced between two wavelength channels
as a result of CD [38]. This technique’s principle of operation
is explained in Fig. 14(a). The incoming signal at a certain
wavelength (λin ) is sent into a nonlinear element to create a
wavelength-converted copy at either λ1 or λ2 , (Δλ = λ1 − λ2 ).
The wavelength-converted signal is then sent to a dispersive
element (e.g., dispersion compensating fiber, DCF), which has
two effects: 1) pulses spread out due to intrachannel CD, and
2) each wavelength travels at a different speed due to inter-
channel CD. Therefore, if the original signal is converted to
λ1 , it will experience a relative delay of Δτ ≈ D × LΔλ in
comparison to if it was converted to λ2 . Then, the signal is
converted back to the original wavelength; however, depending
of the length of the dispersive element (L), its dispersion (D) and
the pulse duration of the signal, the signal may have been spread
over time due to CD. If necessary, this broadening caused by
intra-channel dispersion can be compensated for in a dispersion
compensating module. Therefore, by using this method, one can
tune the signal delay by selecting a wavelength on to which the
signal is temporarily converted. In other words, the delay can
be tuned by tuning a pump laser.
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 32, NO. 4, FEBRUARY 15, 2014
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig. 14. Continuously tunable parametric optical delay using the conversion-
dispersion technique: (a) concept, (b) 22 ns delay for 43-Gb/s OOK signal with
2.5 ps pulses [62], (c) 7.3 μs delay using discretely time-offset continuous delay
units [63].
Delay resolutions as low as 100 fs and up, and delays up to
3.6 μs have been shown using the conversion-dispersion tech-
nique [60], [61]. Typically, large amounts of dispersion are
required for large delays, which may cause significant pulse
broadening that requires compensation; however, for smaller
delays that are within a bit time, smaller dispersion values are
required and thus the pulse broadening may be negligible and
dispersion compensation may not be necessary.
Two different results on tunable delays are shown in Fig. 14(b)
and (c). In Fig. 14(b), a 0 to 22 ns delay has been shown on
43-Gb/s OOK signals with 2.5 ps short pulses [62]. Wideband
operation is enabled by using spectral inversion to compen-
sate for intra-channel CD on the signals. Fig. 14(c) shows the
tuning results of a demonstration that uses a combination of dis-
crete (fixed) delays and continuously tunable optical delays to
achieve a 0 to 7.3 μs delay [63]. In other experiments, a 1.56 μs
delay was achieved on RZ-DPSK signals at 40-Gb/s [64] and a
3.6 μs delay was shown using one continuously tunable scheme
for 100-Gb/s RZ-DQPSK signals [61].
D. Tunable Optical Tapped Delay Lines
A key building block for many signal processing applications
is a tapped-delay-line [52], [59], [11]. As shown in Fig. 15, the
incoming data signal is tapped at different time intervals, each
tap is multiplied by a coefficient and the taps (copies) are then
added together to form the output. These can be done optically
using multicasting, optical delay, and multiplexing. The output
y(t) of the tapped-delay-line is thus a weighted sum of the
WILLNER et al.: ALL-OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING
Fig. 15. Generic form of a tapped-delay-line: input signal is copied (tapped) at
different time intervals, copies (taps) are multiplied by a (complex) coefficient
and then added in order to create the output.
delayed copies of the input signal, x(t):

N −1
y(t) = |hk |ej ∠h k x(t − Tk )
k =0
in which, N is the number of taps, hk and Tk are the com-
plex coefficient and time delay of the kth tap, respectively. This
represents an N -tap FIR filter that can be used for various filter-
ing applications. The function of the tapped-delay-line can be
changed by varying its parameters.
We have investigated a technique to use optical nonlinear
multicasting, tunable delays and optical multiplexing technolo-
gies to implement a complex-coefficient tapped-delay-line with
tunability over the number of taps, tap delay and tap coeffi-
cients [11]. The principle of operation of this tunable TDL is
depicted in Fig. 16. The incoming data signal is first multicast
to N signal copies using cSFG-DFG in a PPLN waveguide. The
multicasting scheme uses N independent pumps to generate the
N copies. All signals and pumps are then sent into a phase and
amplitude programmable filter based on liquid crystal on sili-
con (LCoS) technology [65], in which the independent signal
copies and their pumps are let through while the original signal
and pump are blocked. The LCoS filter can also be used to apply
the tap phases. Next, the signals propagate through a chromatic
dispersive element such as DCF in which the N signal copies are
delayed with respect to each other. The delayed signals are then
sent into another PPLN waveguide to be coherently multiplexed
to one wavelength channel. Each multicast copy represents a
tap in the TDL; therefore, the number of taps is the number of
pump lasers, and tap amplitudes can be independently varied
by changing the power of the pumps that generated the signal
copies. The tap delays are based on conversion-dispersion de-
lays and can thus be widely tuned by changing the wavelengths
of the pumps. Finally, the tap phases can either be imposed by
the LCoS filter or fine tuning of the pumps [66]. Therefore, the
TDL can be completely tuned by varying the properties of the
input pump lasers.
According to the wave mixing rules presented in Section II,
the equivalent mathematical representation of this optical TDL
with input electric field amplitude Esig n al (t) and output field
EM U X (t) is [11]
−1

N
EM U X (t) ∝ |hk | ej ∠h k Esig n al (t − Tk )
k =0
669
in which,
Tk = L β2 (ωD k − ωD 0 ) (22)
2
|hk | = |ED k | (23)
∠hk = −L β2 (ωD k − ωQ P M )2 + φLk C oS + γk . (24)
In (22)–(24), ED k is the field amplitude of the kth CW pump,
β2 is the group velocity dispersion parameter of the chromatic
dispersive medium of length L, and φLk C oS is the phase that
can be applied on ωD k pumps after the first PPLN stage by
the LCoS filter. γk represents phase shift due to higher-order
dispersion terms that need to be considered when initializing
the system. The LCoS phase shift directly appears on the phase
of the tap coefficient. Alternatively, the phase of the kth tap
(20) can be varied by fine frequency detuning of the ωD k dummy
pump by δωD k . This detuning can change ∠hk approximately
by −2Lβ2 (ωD k − ωQ P M )δωD k . Because the tap delays also
depend on the frequency of the pumps, the fine-frequency de-
tuning technique for applying tap phases can cause deviation in
the tap delays δTk /Tk ≈ δωD k /(ωD k − ωD 0 ). Therefore, care
must be taken in choosing pump wavelength separations and
dispersion values to minimize the time error degrading effects.
The tunable optical TDL can be utilized to perform many dif-
ferent signal processing functions, including FIR filtering [67],
equalization, correlation [11], discrete Fourier transform [68],
D/A conversion, and synthesis of arbitrary optical waveforms
[57], all at the line rate of optical communications. On the other
hand, because the optical TDL is tunable, especially in the tap
delays, signals with different bit rates and modulation formats
can be processed using this scheme.
A similar approach has been used to demonstrate an optical
TDL that can independently and simultaneously process WDM
data channels in which the number of taps can scale with the
nonlinear stages [69].
The TDL, in principle is an FIR filter. Fig. 17(a) depicts the
experimental multicasting and multiplexing spectra for a 3-tap
FIR filter base on the technique depicted in Fig. 16. A CW
laser is chosen as the input signal which represents a constant
input signal. In Fig. 17(a), the constant input signal at ωsig n al
is multicast to three copies at frequencies ωC 1 to ωC 3 using the
dummy pumps laser at ωD 1 to ωD 3 . The dummy pump lasers are
chosen to have equal power such that all three taps have the same
amplitude (|h| = [1 1 1]). The tap phases are also set to be equal
to 0. The multiplexed signal shown in the spectrum has high
amplitude because the three taps add constructively. Fig. 17(b),
compares the normalized experimental transfer functions of the
TDL against the theoretical responses for two 3-tap FIR filters
with the same tap amplitudes but different
tap phases [67]. The
−j 2π f T k
theoretical transfer function H(f ) = N h
k =1 k e closely
matches the experimental results.
IV. DATA-GROOMING APPLICATIONS
The operations introduced in Section III can enable various
applications. In this section, we discuss three examples of such
(21) applications—namely equalization, regeneration, and a flexible
transmitter.
670 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 32, NO. 4, FEBRUARY 15, 2014

Fig. 16. Optical implementation of a TDL based on nonlinearities and conversion-dispersion-based delays: N copies of the input optical signal are generated at
different frequencies using cascaded nonlinear wave mixings of SFG followed by DFG. The amplitude of each signal copy depends on its CW laser pump power.
Copies are sent into a chromatic dispersive medium to introduce the tap delays. Delayed and weighted signal copies are sent to a second nonlinear medium to
be multiplexed and create the output signal [11]. Δω: Frequency separation between signal copies, β2 : Group velocity dispersion parameter, L: Length of the
dispersive medium, PPLN: Periodically poled lithium niobate.

(a) (b) (a) (c)

(b)

Fig. 18. A 3-tap tapped-delay-line equalizer using a silica photonic integrated

Fig. 17. Tunable optical FIR filter using the conversion-dispersion-based
tapped-delay-line: (a) multicasting and multiplexing spectra, (b) theoretical and
experimental frequency response of an FIR filter configuration with three taps.
ω C i : Signal copy created by CW pump ω D i , h: Vector of complex tap coeffi-
cients [67].
A. Equalization
Fig. 18 shows an optical implementation of a tapped delay
line using the PIC technology [10]. The structure is based on
two cascaded Mach–Zehnder interferometers (MZIs) with 20 ps
delay in one arm to produce a 3-tap optical filter, as depicted in
Fig. 18(a) and (b). In this scheme, the tap amplitudes are tuned
by varying the splitting ratios of the adjustable couplers, and
the tap phases are varied by thermo-optic phase shifters on the
MZIs; however, the number of taps is fixed, and the tap delays
can hardly be tuned over a wide range of delays.
circuit (PIC) technology: (a) Mach–Zehnder-interferometer structure (with ad-
justable couplers and phase shifters), (b) schematic impulse response, and
(c) PIC structure and input/output eye diagrams for equalization of inter-symbol-
interference [10].
Because the three taps are equally separated by 20 ps in the
time domain, the transfer function is periodic in the frequency
domain (with free spectral range of 50 GHz) and can thus be used
for equalization of 50 GHz fix-grid WDM channels. Fig. 18(c)
depicts the input and output eye diagrams of a 40-Gb/s OOK
channel that is distorted by a combination of 40-GHz narrow
filtering, 95-ps/nm CD, and 10-ps differential group delay [10].
Simultaneous optical equalization of ten WDM OTDM channels
at 107 Gb/s has also been demonstrated using this technology
[70].
As another example, the optical TDL presented in
Section III-D can be tuned to perform equalization on a sin-
gle wavelength channel. As shown in Fig. 19, the tunable TDL
is configured to compensate for various amounts of distortion in-
duced by CD. Signals carrying DPSK and DQPSK modulation
WILLNER et al.: ALL-OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING
(a) (b)
Fig. 19. Application of the tunable optical tapped-delay-line for equalization
of distorted optical signals: (a) power penalty versus amount of signal distortion
(chromatic dispersion) for various modulation formats and baud rates, (b) eye
diagrams before and after equalization of 80-Gb/s RZ-DQPSK signals using
4-tap equalization [11].
formats with RZ and NRZ shapes are used and various baud
rates (40 and 27 GBd) are shown. The TDL tap spacings are
set such that for various baud rates the time spacing between
the taps are half the symbol time ΔT ≈ D L Δλ = Ts /2 (i.e.,
12.5 ps for 40-GBd signals). Fig. 19(a) plots the power penalties
at bit error ratio (BER) of 10−9 before and after equalization
using the tunable TDL with three and four taps. In Fig. 19(b),
80-Gb/s RZ-DQPSK eye diagrams before and after equalization
are shown [11].
B. Optical Regeneration
“Regeneration” is the processes that can be applied to “clean
up” a signal that has been impacted by noise and other im-
pairments, in order to eliminate or reduce their degrading ef-
fects. Typically, regenerators can perform one or a combination
of three functions: 1) (re)amplifying, 2) reshaping, and 3) re-
timing. Depending on the data modulation format, reshaping
can be performed on the amplitude and/or phase waveform of
the signal [71]. Optical signals can be regenerated electroni-
cally through detection and retransmission of the optical sig-
nals, which involves OEO conversions and high-speed parallel
electronics. On the other hand, all-optical regeneration schemes
use optical signal processing to improve the signal quality at the
serial line rate of optics.
Traditionally, due to the wide use of direct detection, most
φin ).
research on optical regeneration has focused on amplitude re-
generation [72]– [81]. Recent technological advances, however,
have made it possible to use more complex amplitude and phase
modulation formats; thus, the regeneration of phase and ampli-
tude is receiving greater interest [71], [82]. In this section, we
present recent results on optical phase and amplitude regenera-
tion that can be used to suppress the nonlinear phase noise that
impairs phase-modulated signals.
Phase-modulated signals (e.g., PSK) can suffer from nonlin-
ear phase noise that arises mainly from interactions of Kerr non-
linearities that can convert intensity fluctuations into phase fluc-
tuations [83], [84]. Optical phase sensitive amplifiers (PSAs) can
671
(a)
(b)
(c) (d)
Fig. 20. Optical regeneration using phase-sensitive amplification (PSA):
(a) concept of phase-sensitive amplifier versus phase-insensitive amplifier [82],
(b) principle of operation of the phase sensitive amplifier. Demonstration of
phase regeneration for 10-Gb/s DPSK signals: (c) without optical injection
locking [71], (d) with optical injection locking for pumps-signal phase lock-
ing [82].
be utilized to suppress the phase noise on PSK signals [71], [85].
Fig. 20(a) illustrates the concept of a PSA versus a phase-
insensitive amplifier, such as an erbium-doped fiber amplifier
(EDFA) [82]. In a phase-insensitive amplifier, the amplitude of
the input signal is amplified independent of its phase; therefore,
the phase information of the input is approximately equal to the
output phase (φou t ≈ φin ). However, in a PSA, the in-phase and
quadrature components of the input signal experience different
gain/attenuation, in the sense that the in-phase component may
be amplified while the quadrature may be de-amplified. As a re-
sult, the output phase can be squeezed toward the real axis caus-
ing a much smaller phase than the input phase (φou t
Conceptually, PSAs are realized in two steps: 1) using nonlinear
optics to generate a phase-conjugate copy of the input signal,
and 2) coherently adding the phase-conjugate copy to the origi-
nal data signal (ES (t) + ES∗ (t) = 2Re{ES (t)}). Therefore, any
component of the phase noise on the imaginary axis (quadrature)
will be projected onto the real axis (in-phase) and be suppressed.
Amplitude regeneration has been achieved simultaneously by
operating the PSA in the saturated regime.
A PSA can be implemented using HNLFs in NOLM interfer-
ometers [71], [79], [85], or FWM processes. Fig. 20(b) shows
the concept of implementing a PSA using partially degenerate
FWM. In this FWM configuration, two CW pumps are located
672 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 32, NO. 4, FEBRUARY 15, 2014

symmetrically around the data signal (ωS − ωP 1 = ωP 2 − ωS ),

thus generating an idler proportional to EP 1 EP 2 ES∗ (t) at the
same frequency as the input signal (ωidler = ωP 1 + ωP 2 −
ωS = ωS ). Therefore, the generated idler will add to the input
signal. The phase of the idler signal is

φidler (t) = φP 1 + φP 2 − φS (t) . (25)

The key challenge in realizing PSAs via FWM is to make

certain that the original signal and the idler add coherently. This
requires that the phases of the two CW pumps be locked to
the carrier frequency of the signal, such that the pumps phase
noises disappear in the generated idler. If this condition is met,
then the generated idler will only contain the phase-conjugate
of the input data (φidler (t) = −φS (t)), thereby enabling the co-
herent addition of the signal and the idler. Thus, the input signal
(with phase φS ) and the idler (with phase −φS ) can interfere
constructively if φidler (t) = φS (t) + 2mπ, and destructively if
φidler (t) = φS (t) + (2m + 1)π [82]. In other words, the input
data signal is amplified when its phase is close to 0 or π, and
attenuated when its phase is close to ±π/2.
Two sets of phase and amplitude regeneration are shown in
Fig. 20(c) and (d). In Fig. 20(c), the optical spectrum is shown
before and after the PSA, where the signal is in the middle and
the two pumps are on its sides. The constellation diagrams of
the phase-distorted 10-Gb/s DPSK signal before and after the
PSA are also presented [71]. In this demonstration, the pump
phases are locked to the signal carrier frequency by generating a
frequency comb from the signal CW source before imposing the
data modulation. The CW source, however, may be unavailable
after the signal is modulated. The work shown in Fig. 20(d), uses
an extra nonlinear stage before the PSA together with optical
injection locking to produce CW pumps that are phase-locked
to the signal carrier frequency without the need to access the
original signal’s CW source before modulation [82]. The eye
diagrams before and after regeneration are shown for 10-Gb/s
DPSK signals.
C. Flexible QAM and OFDM Transmitter
Traditionally, optical signal processing techniques have been
used for the generation of high-speed OTDM signals [50]. More
recently, optical QAM and orthogonal frequency-division multi-
plexing (OFDM) signal generation and demodulation have also
been demonstrated due to their potentials to achieve high baud
rates [68], [87]–[89]. OFDM is a technique for encoding infor-
mation on multiple carrier frequencies. Typically, the generation
of high-baud-rate QAM signals requires high bandwidth lin-
ear electronic amplifiers to drive optical modulators with high-
power multi-level signals; however, achieving high bandwidth,
linearity, and high power all together is challenging in electron-
ics. Optical approaches can potentially alleviate these limits.
Future optical transmission systems can benefit from baud-rate-
adjustable and modulation-format-variable QAM signals [90].
In this section, we present a few examples of recent work on
optical signal processing approaches that can enable flexible
optical transmitters for QAM generation and optical OFDM
demodulation.
Fig. 21. Concept of using nonlinear optical signal processing for flexible
optical transmitter, capable of reconfigurably allocating input electrical signals
to various wavelength channels with arbitrary modulation formats in two steps:
(i) generation of simple two-level optical signals (e.g., QPSK) from electrical
data, (ii) reconfigurable multiplexing and wavelength conversion of low-order
modulation formats to higher-order modulation formats.
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig. 22. Flexible optical transmitter: (a) nonlinear wave mixing for coherent
multiplexing of three QPSK signals to a 64-QAM signal, (b) vector addition for
weighted QPSK signals to optically generate a 64-QAM signal, (c) experimental
constellation diagrams for allocating three 20-GBd WDM QPSK signals to (i) a
64-QAM, (ii) a 16-QAM and a QPSK, and (iii) three QPSK signals at different
wavelength channels [88].
1) Variable Baud-Rate Flexible Optical QAM Transmitter:
Fig. 21 illustrates the concept of a flexible optical QAM
transmitter shown in [88]. It is relatively straightforward to
generate high-bandwidth two-level electronic signals that can
generate optical OOK, BPSK, and QPSK signals. The tech-
nique in [88] starts with multiple electronic signals to generate
many QPSK signals. A reconfigurable optical signal process-
ing scheme is then used to delay, weight, and multiplex the
lower-order QPSK signals to one higher-order QAM signal (e.g.,
64-QAM), or multiple other formats, such as a QPSK channel
together with a 16-QAM channel, or just three simple QPSK
signals.
The concept of optical multiplexing techniques for coherent
combining of three QPSK signals to a 64-QAM signal is shown
in Fig. 22. Three QPSK signals mix independently with three
CW dummy pumps through SFG followed by DFG mixing with
another pump in a PPLN device to generate the addition of the
QPSK signals. Each signal must be added with proper weight.
WILLNER et al.: ALL-OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING 673

(a)

Fig. 23. Concept of optical orthogonal frequency modulation (OFDM) trans-

mitter and receiver.

(b)

The challenge remains in devising techniques that can maintain

the phase coherency of the QPSK signals to enable the coherent
addition of weighted QPSK signals. Two techniques have been
shown to enable phase coherency for this application, includ-
ing phase erasure of independent QPSK signals [88] and the
use of optical frequency combs [89]. As shown in Fig. 22(b),
because of the vector addition enabled by maintaining the phase-
coherency, when the three QPSK signals are weighted by factors
of 1, 0.5, and 0.25 and added, the larger QPSK signal can move
the smaller QPSK symbols into the locations of the 64-QAM
constellation points. In general, any n QPSK signals can be
combined to form a 4n -QAM signal. Sample experimental in-
put/output constellations are shown in Fig. 22(c), where three
20-GBd input QPSK signals are reconfigurably multiplexed to
either a 64-QAM signal, a QPSK and a 16-QAM signal, or are
left unchanged as QPSK [88].
2) All-Optical OFDM Generation and Demodulation: Op- Fig. 24. Optical OFDM demodulation using delay-interferometer-based fast
tical OFDM signals involve creating a wideband data chan- Fourier transform: (a) structure, and (b) constellations for two 10-GBd demulti-
plexed subcarriers of a 26-Tb/s OFDM signal (PM-16-QAM subchannels) [87].
nel by modulating multiple orthogonal frequency subcarriers
at a lower rate, as shown in Fig. 23. The modulated subcarri-
ers overlap in the frequency domain [86]. Traditionally, optical An OFDM signal with N subcarriers separated by Δf can be
OFDM signals have been generated in electronics using elec- represented as
tronic inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) techniques to calcu- 
N −1
late time-domain symbols from the frequency-domain symbols, s(t) = xn (t)ej 2π n Δ f t (26)
which, after parallel-to-serial and digital-to-analog conversions n =0
are conducted, create the I and Q electrical signals that mod- in which xn (t) is the nth subcarrier signal. An N -point optical
ulate a laser [86]. The subcarrier modulation speed is limited DFT can extract the nth subcarrier signal according to
to the speed at which discrete Fourier transform (DFT) or fast

N −1

Fourier transform (FFT) can be implemented in electronics. k
Alternatively, OFDM signals can be generated optically by us- xn (t) = s t+ e−j 2π n k /N (27)
N × Δf
k =0
ing an optical frequency comb source as the optical subcarriers
and independently modulating each comb line and combining which needs to be sampled at 1/Δf time intervals to recover
them to create an optical OFDM channel [68], [87]. Gener- the transmitted symbols. This demodulation equation follows
ally, electronic OFDM generation techniques are limited by the form of a tapped delay line in (20). In this section, we
the bandwidth of the analog I and Q electrical signals, so the review two examples of optical OFDM demodulation involving
subcarriers are placed closer in frequency, with each using a a fixed FFT approach and a baud-rate-tunable DFT approach
lower baud-rate and higher depth modulation format. An op- based on the tunable TDL presented in Section III-D [68], [87].
tical OFDM channel can be demodulated using parallel elec- a) Optical FFT Based on Delay Interferometers: The
tronic DFT or FFT. Alternative optical DFT/FFT approaches concept of an optical FFT for separating the subcarriers of an
can allow for the use of higher baud rates for subcarrier modu- optical OFDM signal is shown in Fig. 24 [87]. The structure is
lation by performing the DFT/FFT at the line rate of optics [68], based on cascaded delay interferometers and is capable of per-
[87], [91]. forming serial-to-parallel conversion together with optical FFT
674
(a)
(b)
Fig. 25. Tunable optical OFDM demodulation using optical DFT enabled by
the optical tapped-delay-line: (a) concept, and (b) multicasting and multiplexing
spectra and output eye diagrams of all four subcarriers in a four 40-GBd QPSK
subcarrier OFDM signal [68].
to decompose the optical OFDM signal into its constituent sub-
carriers. The data of each subcarrier is then recovered by proper
time-gating using electro-absorption modulators. This config-
uration requires only N − 1 passive delay interferometers to
realize an N -point FFT. An 8-point FFT with fixed delays is
demonstrated in [87]. Furthermore, in [87], 325 comb lines of
a 12.5-GHz frequency comb source are modulated by 10-GBd
16-QAM signals in two polarizations to generate an OFDM
channel at 26-Tb/s. A simplified two point FFT is performed to
extract the subcarriers. Fig. 24(b) shows two constellation di-
agrams of the extracted 16-QAM subcarriers together with the
spectrum and the error vector magnitude (EVM) of all output
subcarriers.
b) Adjustable Bit-Rate Optical DFT: The tunable optical
TDL depicted in Fig. 16 has also been used to perform optical
DFT with various numbers of taps and bit rates [68]. Fig. 25(a)
illustrates the concept of using the tunable TDL to perform DFT
for extraction of OFDM subcarriers. According to OFDM de-
modulation equation (27), which follows the form of the tunable
TDL equation (21), in order to extract the nth subcarrier from
an N -subcarrier OFDM signal with Δf separation, the tunable
TDL needs to be configured to have N taps, each separated
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 32, NO. 4, FEBRUARY 15, 2014
in time by 1/(N × Δf ), with tap coefficients of e−j 2π n k /N
(k ∈ {0, . . . , N − 1}). In Fig. 25(b), the input OFDM channel
is a 320-Gb/s four-subcarrier QPSK signal that was generated
optically by modulating four optical comb lines that were sep-
arated by a 40 GHz. The multicasting and multiplexing spectra
for the implementation of a 4-tap TDL are shown in Fig. 25(b),
where the tap coefficients and tap delays are configured to rep-
resent the coefficients of a 4-point DFT. The TDL coefficients
are reconfigured four times to demodulate each of the four
40-GBd QPSK subcarriers. The eye diagrams of the four ex-
tracted subcarriers are shown at the bottom of Fig. 25(b).
V. OPTICAL CONTROL INFORMATION
Optical signal processing can be utilized to generate con-
trol information at the line rate of optics. In this section, we
present two functionalities for control information. We will
first overview optical TDL-based correlators that can be used
to search for a pattern in an incoming phase-modulated data
stream. Next, we present an example of high-speed OOK logic
functions as well as high-base 16-PSK addition/subtraction us-
ing nonlinearities.
A. Correlation
A correlator can search for a pre-determined target pat-
tern on an incoming data stream at the line rate of incoming
data [9], [92]. Fig. 26(a) shows the concept of pattern match-
ing to a phase-modulated signal in a correlator. A correlator
can be implemented using the TDL structure. The tap coeffi-
cients are set as the phase-conjugate of the target pattern which
we want to match to. As the data stream slides through a set
of taps, adjacent symbols are multiplied by the tap coefficient
and added together to form the output. When the patterns fully
match, a high amplitude is created, while partial matches re-
sult in lower amplitudes. A thresholder can be used after the
correlator to identify full matches when the amplitude exceeds
a certain threshold. Fig. 26(b) illustrates two sample cases of
vector addition in a correlator for a full match (large amplitude
output) and a full mismatch where weighted adjacent symbols
add in different directions, resulting in zero amplitude [11].
a) Fixed Bit Rate 8-bit Optical Correlator: In [93], a reconfig-
urable silica planar-lightwave-circuit optical delay line filter is
used for pattern recognition on a 40-Gb/s BPSK signal. Fig. 27
shows the schematic of an 8-bit correlator with tunable coeffi-
cients. The variable optical attenuators (VOA) set the amplitude
of the taps to be equal, and phase shifters program each tap
phase to be 0 or π to choose the target pattern. The experi-
mental results of the 8-bit correlator are shown in Fig. 27. The
target pattern is set to “0 π 0 π 0 π 0 0.” Assuming that out of
8 bits, only m bits match, the output field of the correlator is
(+1) × m + (−1) × (8 − m) = 2m − 8 (m ∈ {0 . . . 8}). The
correlator adds the optical fields; thus, when all 8 bits match, the
field has a level of 8. However, the photodiode is a square law
device and thus the amplitude of full-match after the photodiode
is 64, which is higher than the amplitude of 7 matches (i.e., 36).
Fig. 27(b) depicts the output eye diagram after the photodiode.
WILLNER et al.: ALL-OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING
(a)
(b)
Fig. 26. Concept of a correlator for phase-modulated signals: (a) tap coefficients are set equal to the complex conjugate of the search pattern, so when the input
data stream slides through the tapped-delay-line, a high correlation peak occurs when the patterns match. (b) Complex-coefficient taps enable correlation on PSK
signals by allowing for vector addition of adjacent symbols [11].
(a)
(b)
Fig. 27. (a) Structure of a silica planar lightwave circuit optical delay line
filter for 8-bit correlation of BPSK signals. (b) Experimental eye diagram,
optical correlation waveform and electronically thresholded output for searching
pattern “0 π 0 π 0 π 0 0” [93].
The optical waveform after the correlator is also shown together
with the electronically thresholded pattern that features a pulse
where a pattern match occurs.
675
(a) (b) (c)
Fig. 28. All-optical tunable correlation based on tunable tapped-delay-line
to search for (a) pattern “1 1 1 1” in a 40-Gb/s RZ-OOK signal, (b) pattern
“π 0 π 0” in a 40-Gb/s RZ-BPSK signal, and (c) pattern “−3π/4 3π/4 π/4”
in a 80-Gb/s RZ-QPSK signal [11].
b) Tunable Correlator: The optical TDL (see Section III-D)
has also been used to perform optical correlation on phase- and
amplitude-modulated signals (BPSK, QPSK, and OOK) [11].
Fig. 28 summarizes some examples shown using this approach
on 40-GBd signals. The pump wavelengths that are injected
into the TDL are set 1.6 nm apart such that after the DCF,
adjacent taps are 25 ps (symbol time) apart. Output eye dia-
grams, optical correlation output waveforms, and electronically
thresholded waveforms are shown for three different modulation
formats and patterns. In Fig. 28(a), an output of “1 1 1 1” pat-
tern search in a 40-Gb/s RZ-OOK signal is presented. Fig. 28(b)
and (c) shows experimental results for 40-Gb/s RZ-BPSK and
80-Gb/s RZ-QPSK signals, in which patterns “π 0 π 0” and
“−3π/4 3π/4 π/4” are searched for, respectively.
676
(a)
(b)
Fig. 29. (a) Simultaneous all-optical logic functions using pump depletion
and cSFG-DFG in PPLN waveguides. (b) Experimental results of logic gates
on 640-Gb/s OOK signals [99].
Other nonlinear techniques have also been used to perform
optical correlation on advanced modulation format signals [94],
and correlation with fast reconfiguration time [95].
B. Optical Logic
Logic functions have enabled digital computation in electron-
ics. All-optical logic functions, such as NOT, AND, OR, and XOR,
have been demonstrated using different nonlinear processes in
various media, including HNLF [96], SOAs [97], PPLN de-
vices [98], [99], and semiconductor micro-resonators [100]. In
this section, we first overview an example of simultaneous logic
gates in a PPLN waveguide [98], [99], followed by a high-base
addition/substraction using 16-PSK signals [101], [102].
1) Simultaneous Logic Functions at 640-Gb/s: In [99] si-
multaneous logic functions have been shown on 640-Gb/s OOK
signals. As shown in Fig. 29(a), cSFG-DFG processes as well as
pump depletion are used in a PPLN waveguide to enable simul-
taneous logic functions. Pump depletion happens when, during
the SFG process, the energy of the two signals is transferred to
the sum frequency and thus the power of both signals A and
B is reduced [13]. The input and output logic bits are shown
in Fig. 29(a). Since in cSFG-DFG the input signals A and B
are multiplied, the generated idler is “1” only if both A and B
are “1” and is zero otherwise. Therefore, the output at the idler
is the logic AND of signals A and B. When both signals A and
B are “1,” then the signals at λA and λB are depleted at the
output of the PPLN device, making them “0”. In other words, at
the output, signal A is converted to (A)AND(NOT(B)) and sig-
nal B is converted to (B)AND(NOT(A)). The experimental BER
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 32, NO. 4, FEBRUARY 15, 2014
(a)
(b)
Fig. 30. (a) Concept of using nonlinearities (e.g., FWM) for high-base number
addition and subtraction on PSK signals. (b) Experimental results for 16-PSK
addition and subtraction at 10 GBd speed [102].
curves and the input/output eye diagrams of 640-Gb/s logic are
presented in Fig. 29(b).
2) High-Base Addition and Subtraction: In binary logic
functions, the information bit-rate is the same as the signal
switching rate (baud rate). Optical signals can use multi-level
modulation formats such as 16-PSK to encode multiple bits onto
a symbol. Therefore, logic functions that operate on multi-level
modulated signals exhibit higher bit rates than the switching
rate. Here, we present the work in [102] that demonstrated si-
multaneous addition and subtraction on 10-GBd 16-PSK signals
in an HNLF through non-degenerate FWM. Fig. 30(a) shows the
schematic output spectrum of the HNLF. Signal A, signal B, and
a CW pump P are sent to an HNLF with low dispersion slope
close to the ZDW. Three non-degenerate FWMs take place to si-
multaneously produce signals proportional to EP∗ EA (t)EB (t),
EA∗ (t)EB (t)EP , and EB∗ (t)EA (t)EP . Because signals A and
B are 16-PSK, the multiplication of their fields results in the
addition of their phases (∠A + ∠B), and the multiplication of
a signal with the phase-conjugate of the other signal generates
subtraction of their phases (i.e., ∠A − ∠B and ∠B − ∠A).
The experimental constellation diagrams of the input and out-
put signals are shown in Fig. 30(b), where the EVM of the
addition/subtraction output signals is on average ∼2.5% higher
than that of the input.
VI. CONCLUSION
Optical signal processing techniques span a wide range of ap-
plications, including the optical amplifiers and dispersion com-
pensating fibers that are widely used, the radio-over-fiber and
microwave photonic techniques that may have limited military
WILLNER et al.: ALL-OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING
applications, and the current research on the techniques that
operate on complex modulation formats. In this tutorial, we fo-
cused on the current research being done in this field with a
focus on digital phase and amplitude-modulated data signals
being processed using nonlinear techniques and the advantages
they may be able to offer for future systems. There have been
technological advances in the field of optical communications
that can be applied to optical signal processing. Information can
be encoded on amplitude, phase, polarization, and wavelength
of an optical wave to increase the capacity of transmission. Non-
linear optical processes have femtosecond response times and
some could preserve the amplitude, phase and polarization in-
formation of the optical signals. Optical signal processing tech-
niques may benefit not only from the high bandwidth of optical
devices and signals (i.e., high baud rate), but also from these
encoding dimensions to increase the processing capacity. We
have provided an overview of key enabling functions for signal
processing – namely multicasting, multiplexing/demultiplexing,
tunable optical delays, and a tunable tapped delay line. We fur-
ther presented recent work on some applications of optical signal
processing that are made possible by these basic optical func-
tions. These applications included FIR filtering, equalization,
phase and amplitude regeneration, optical correlation, optical
FFT and DFT, a flexible output transmitter and optical logic.
Nonlinear photonic interactions along with photonic integration
might enable further complicated signal processing applications
in the future.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Prof. A. Bogoni from
CNIT (Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Teleco-
municazioni), Italy, Dr. C. Langrock and Prof. M. M. Fejer
from Stanford University, U.S.A., Prof. A. Seeds from Univer-
sity College London, U.K., Prof. J. D. Touch from USC-ISI
(Information Sciences Institute), U.S.A., Prof. M. Tur from Tel
Aviv University, Israel, Prof. M. W. Haney from University of
Delaware, U.S.A., Dr. S. R. Nuccio, Prof. J. Wang, Dr. X. Wu,
A. Almaiman, A. Mohajerin-Ariaei, and M. Ziyadi, from USC,
as well as Cisco Systems, DARPA, Google, HP, Intel, NSF, and
NSF CIAN for their generous support.
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Alan E. Willner (S’87–M’88–SM’93–F’04) received the B.A. degree in physics
from Yeshiva University, New York, NY, USA, in 1982 and the Ph.D. degree
in electrical engineering from Columbia University, New York, NY, in 1988.
He received an Honorary Degree, Honoris Causa, from Yeshiva University in
2012. He worked at AT&T Bell Labs and Bellcore, and is currently the Steven &
Kathryn Sample Chair in Engineering at the University of Southern California,
Los Angeles. He has coauthored more than 900 publications, including one
book and 24 patents.
He is an International Fellow of the U.K. Royal Academy of Engineering
and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
(AAAS), Optical Society of America (OSA), and The International Society for
Optics and Photonics (SPIE). His professional activities include: the Co-Chair
of the U.S. National Academies Study on Harnessing Light II, the President
of the IEEE Photonics Society, the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE/OSA JOURNAL
OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, the Editor-in-Chief of OSA OPTICS LETTERS,
the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE JOURNAL OF SELECTED TOPICS IN QUANTUM
ELECTRONICS, the Co-Chair of the OSA Science and Engineering Council, the
General Co-Chair of the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO), the
Chair of the IEEE TAB Ethics and Conflict Resolution Committee, the General
Chair of the IEEE Photonics Society Annual Meeting, and the Program Co-
Chair of the OSA Annual Meeting.
Prof. Willner received the National Science Foundation (NSF) Presidential
Faculty Fellows Award from the White House, Packard Foundation Fellowship,
the Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, the NSF National Young Investiga-
tor Award, the Fulbright Foundation Senior Scholars Award, the OSA Forman
Engineering Excellence Award, the OSA Leadership Award, the IEEE Pho-
tonics Society Engineering Achievement Award, the IEEE Photonics Society
Distinguished Traveling Lecturer Award, the USC University-Wide Associates
Award for Creativity in Research, the USC University-Wide Associates Award
for Excellence in Teaching, and the Eddy Award from Pennwell for the Best
Contributed Technical Article.
680 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 32, NO. 4, FEBRUARY 15, 2014

Salman Khaleghi (S’06–M’13) received the B.Sc. degree in electrical engineer-
ing from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, in 2007 and the Ph.D.
degree in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California
(USC), Los Angeles, CA, USA, in 2013. He is now with Infinera Corporation,
Sunnyvale, CA.
He was a research member of the USC Optical Communications Laboratory
from 2007 to 2013 and a Researcher at the Information Sciences Institute (ISI)
from 2012 to 2013. From 2006 to 2007, he was a Researcher at Optical Networks
Research Laboratory at Sharif University of Technology. He is a reviewer of
the journals Optics Express, Optics Letters, Applied Optics, IEEE JOURNAL OF
LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, and IEEE PHOTONICS JOURNAL. He is the author or
coauthor of more than 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers.
His research interests include the study and applications of advanced modula-
tion formats and nonlinear optical signal processing techniques for applications
to the optical communication systems.
Dr. Khaleghi is a member of the IEEE Photonics Society, IEEE Communica-
tions Society, and the Optical Society of America (OSA). He is also a recipient
of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering Doctoral Fellowship Award.
Omer Faruk Yilmaz (M’03) received the B.S. degree from the Electrical and
Electronics Engineering Department, Middle East Technical University, Ankara,
Turkey, in 2004 and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from the Univer-
sity of California, Riverside, CA, USA, in 2006. He received the Ph.D. degree in
electrical engineering from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles,
CA, USA, in 2012. He is currently with Infinera Corporation, Sunnyvale, CA,
USA. His research interests include high-speed optical signal processing appli-
cations on advanced modulation formats, high capacity long-haul transmission
systems using hybrid Raman/EDFA amplification, and integrated photonic sys-
tems. He has published more than 60 papers in prestigious international journals
and conferences. He is a reviewer of Optics Express, Optics Letters, IEEE PHO-
TONICS TECHNOLOGY LETTERS, IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS,
Applied Optics Journal, and etc.

Mohammad Reza Chitgarha (S’06) received the B.S. degree from Sharif Uni-
versity, Tehran, Iran, in 2008. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree
in electrical engineering at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles,
CA, USA. His research interests include optical signal processing, advanced
modulation formats and coherent detection for optical communications, optical
performance monitoring, and optical data communication networks. He is the
author or coauthor of more than 40 peer-reviewed journal article and conference
papers. He is a reviewer of the OPTICS LETTER AND IEEE/OSA JOURNAL OF
LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY. He is a Student Member of the IEEE Communica-
tion Society and the Optical Society of America (OSA).