Efficient and robust regenerative all-optical wavelength converter for Cand L-band (80 nm span) and for data rates up to 40 Gbit/s

Summary form only given.Wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) networks will need optical wavelength converters in optical cross connects to avoid wavelength blocking when routing the signals. Interferometric devices have regenerative capabilities and are therefore of special interest to guarantee cascadibility. We present a monolithically integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometer with semiconductor optical amplifiers (MZI-SOA) that demonstrates efficient all-optical 2R regenerative 10 Gbit/s wavelength conversion over the full C- and L-band with a negative penalty of about -1 dB. The converted output signals have an optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) better than 45 dB. All-optical 2R and 3R regenerative wavelength conversion at 40 Gbit/s within the entire C-band has been already reported using the same kind of device. We show that the device has the capability for regenerative wavelength conversion at 40 Gbit/s even in and beyond the L-band.