Direct optical processing of M-ary code-shift-keyed spectral-phase-encoded OCDMA

Feature Issue on Optical Code Division Multiple AccessOptical signal processing using composite spectral-phase masks permits direct detection of each bit of an M-ary code word. The demonstrated M-ary receiver requires only log2(M) rather than M parallel stages and eliminates the usual electronic postprocessing. In addition, a range of logical operations on the underlying data bits is possible, and an exclusive-OR (XOR) operation is demonstrated using optical phase coders based on integrated microring resonators.