A novel optical packet labeling scheme using interleaved low-speed DPSK labels

We report a novel DPSK/ASK optical packet label encoding scheme based on synchronous phase modulation on ASK packets. By employing a simple packet structure, this scheme allows the phase-encoded labels being embedded within the ASK packets while having a high modulation extinction ratio. In addition, it also facilitates low-bit-rate DPSK label encoding and detection. Stable label encoding, demodulation and swapping of low-speed labels on 10-Gb/s packets were experimentally demonstrated.