Masafumi KOGA^*, Toshio MORIOKA and Yutaka MIYAMOTO

NTT Network Innovation Laboratories, NTT Corporation, 1-1 Hikari-no-oka, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, 239-0847 Japan

(Received December 15, 2003; Accepted January 16, 2004)

This paper describes the evolution history of the Photonic Network, and highlights our recent research activities on Photonic Multi-Protocol Label Switching and ultra-wideband transmission technologies. The Photonic Multi-protocol Label Switching technology, one of the hottest research area, can be extended to provide optical burst-by-burst data switching. The novel optical modulation technology and multi-optical carrier generation technology based on Super-continuum light sources will be the key to create bandwidth abundant ultra-large capacity wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) transmission.

Key words: optical communication, Photonic Network, generalized multi-protocol label switching, optical burst data switching, carrier-suppressed return-to-zero (CS-RZ) modulation format, supercontinuum light source

^*E-mail address: koga.masafumi@lab.ntt.co.jp