DEMONSTRATION OF COLLIDING-SOLITON ALL-OPTICAL SWITCHING

A colliding-soliton switch that takes advantage of the conservation properties of interacting solitons is demonstrated experimentally. We show that the switch, which can operate as an optical demultiplexer or as a logic gate, responds to incoming signal solitons without altering them. This is a consequence of its quantum nondemolition measurement capabilities, and allows multiple operations to be performed with the same soliton. Operation at rates exceeding 250 Gbit/s should be possible.