Stabilized Wide-Band Wavelength Conversion Enabled by CW-Triggered Supercontinuum

We experimentally demonstrate a wide-band wavelength converter enabled by continuous-wave (CW) triggered supercontinuum (SC) generated from a picosecond pulse source. In the presence of the trigger, the pulse-to-pulse SC stability considerably improved, leading to error-free wavelength conversion operations spanning from 1510 to 1615 nm, which covers the S-, C-, and L-bands of the ITU grids. In addition, the CW-triggered SC spectrum is significantly enhanced to over 300 nm measured at 20 dB below the peak spectral power (from ~1400 to 1700 nm and beyond). Our scheme thus provides a low pump power and wide-band solution for fiber-based optical wavelength conversion. With its better CW source, e.g., lower relative intensity noise and longer coherence length, the present scheme has the potential to be further applied to phase-modulated signals.