Optical pumping of a semiconductor optical amplifier for wide-band noninverting wavelength conversion

We have demonstrated an all-optical S- to C/L-band wavelength up-conversion scheme for nonreturn-to-zero data using an optically pumped semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). The 1480-nm input signal directly pumps the SOA and modulates its gain. Noninverted data conversion is obtained from 1480 nm to any desired wavelength between 1520 and 1600 nm. An output conversion range of 80 nm is achieved. Bit-error-rate measurements have been performed at 10 Gb/s and a power penalty of 2.8 dB is observed at a converted wavelength of 1570 nm. The effect of the input polarization state on the converted output is also investigated. A well-defined output polarization state is obtained and the output intensity variation is less than 1.4 dB when the input polarization is scrambled.