160-Gb/s optical sampling by gain-transparent four-wave mixing in a semiconductor optical amplifier

Author

Diez, S. ; Ludwig, R. ; Schmidt, C. ; Feiste, U. ; Weber, H.G.

Author_Institution

Heinrich-Hertz-Inst. fur Nachrichtentech. Berlin GmbH, Germany

Volume

11

Issue

11

fYear

1999

Firstpage

1402

Lastpage

1404

Abstract

We report on a broad-band all-optical switch that exhibits high linearity (>30 dB), high switching contrast (>25 dB), and large data wavelength tunability (100 nm). The switching principle is based on four-wave mixing. Two control pulse trains are placed in the gain wavelength region of a 1300-nm semiconductor-optical amplifier. The data signal, however, is at 1550 nm in the transparent wavelength region where four-wave mixing sidebands are generated due to index modulations. The switch is used to sample a 160-Gb/s data signal with a temporal resolution of approximately 1.7 ps.

Keywords

multiwave mixing; optical communication equipment; optical modulation; optical switches; semiconductor optical amplifiers; signal resolution; signal sampling; 1300 nm; 1550 nm; 160 Gbit/s; broad-band all-optical switch; control pulse trains; data signal; gain wavelength region; gain-transparent four-wave mixing; index modulations; optical sampling; semiconductor optical amplifier; switching principle; temporal resolution; Four-wave mixing; Linearity; Nonlinear optics; Optical mixing; Optical pulses; Optical switches; Pulse amplifiers; Sampling methods; Semiconductor optical amplifiers; Signal generators;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/68.803059

Filename

803059