Noise Transfer Characterization in Wavelength Conversion Based on Injection Locking in a Fabry–Perot Laser

We evaluate the performance of wavelength conversion based on injection locking in a Fabry-Perot laser (FPL). We compare the bit error ratio (BER) of the original and the converted signals at different optical signal to noise ratios (OSNRs). We study experimentally both up- and down-conversion and show that wavelength conversion results in slight BER improvement. This is due to the FPL power transfer function and also absorption of TM polarization that results in noise reduction. Measurements of the noise histograms on "1" and "0" bits confirm noise compression after conversion. We also study the case of simultaneous dual-channel conversion (i.e., wavelength multi-casting) and compare it with the single channel case. The BER performance of the dual-channel case does not degrade compared to the input signal.