10-Gbits/s all-optical 3R regeneration and format conversion using a gain-switched DFB laser

Summary form only given. The regeneration of optical data signals is likely to be an important requirement of WDM and OTDM networking schemes. All-optical regenerators are currently complicated and require several optical components together with complex control. As a result there has been interest in developing robust and simple single chip schemes, which allow regeneration. We demonstrate for the first time to our knowledge simultaneous all optical 3R regeneration and format conversion in a single DFB laser. An NRZ data signal at 10 Gbits/s with poor Q is reamplified, retimed and reshaped by the laser. The key to this regeneration process is to gain switch the DFB with the extracted clock signal in order to retime the converted signal. This process also simultaneously converts the input NRZ format to an output RZ data format and results in a signal whose optical power and extinction ratio are considerably improved by the regeneration process. The DFB laser used in these experiments is a strain-compensated multiple quantum well device, which has been optimized for low jitter gain switched operation at 10 GHz.