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Due to continued growth of internet at a starling rate and the introduction of new broadband services, such as cloud computing, IPTV and high-definition media streaming, there is a requirement for a flexible bandwidth infrastructure that supports mobility of data at peta-scale. Elastic networking based on gridless spectrum technology are emerging as a promising solution for the flexible spectral networking paradigm in heterogeneous optical networks supporting future internet traffic demands. Recently, intense research initiatives are focusing on a more flexible spectrum allocation approach than the standard ITU-T grid. The main difficulty with realising this scenario is the need for a transmission link, able to accommodate and manage a diverse set of channels having different modulation format, baud-rate and spectral occupancy. Segmented use of the spectrum may result in the lack of availability of sufficiently wide spectrum slots for high bit rate signals, which would lead to wavelength contention. Moreover, on demand slot assignment causes not only divergence from the optimal route but also have spectrum fragmentation, which degrades spectrum utilization efficiency. The main contribution is the development of feasible solutions for the efficient transport of heterogeneous traffic by enhancing the flexibility of the optical layer in allocating network resources as well as for the implementation of an adaptable infrastructure that provides on-demand functionality according to traffic requirements. For this, experimental investigation of elastic networks that support flexible optical node architecture, have the capability of re-arranging ch31mels in a fragmented spectrum by all optical signal processing functionalities such as format conversion, wavelength conversion, spectrum defragmentation and grooming of high speed signals in order to maintain an efficient resource utilisation has been undertaken. More specifically, this thesis presents a detailed description and results from the following published experimental work: Defragmentation and Grooming on 85.4 Gb/s by Simultaneous Format and Wavelength Conversion, Gridless networking first field trial with flexible spectrum switching nodes over 620km field fibre links. A novel all optical traffic grooming node for the application of elastic optical network.

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