Tunable optical wavelength converters with reconfigurable functionality

We propose novel circuits for tunable all-optical wavelength converters with reconfigurable functionality. Circuits for wavelength converters based on cross-gain modulation (XGM) and cross-phase modulation (XPM) in semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) are considered, for both copropagating and counterpropagating pump and probe signals. The circuits use arrayed-waveguide grating multiplexers (AWGMs) to filter and route signals in and out of the SOAs. The AWGM´s minimize the component count in the circuits and may lead to future integration of wavelength converters. We experimentally demonstrate a XGM wavelength converter with copropagating pump and probe signals and report its bit-error-rate (BER) performance at 2.5 Gb/s