Fast tunable parallel optical delay line

A new tunable optical delay line for OTDM applications can achieve sub-nanosecond tuning time across three time slots spaced 1OOps apart. Using parallel fiber delays, the delay line requires only one modulator operating below the baseband data rate. A simple control algorithm based on a latency diagram can further reduce the average latency beyond that of the straightforward hardware implementation by 50%. Using the demonstrated delay line, 10 GHz electronics has the potential to access a throughput of 160Gb/s optical data.