All-optical wavelength conversion of short pulses and NRZ signals based on a nonlinear optical loop mirror

Abstract

Abstract-Wavelength conversion of short pulses at 10 GHz based on a nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM) is experimentally and numerically investigated for the case of small group velocity dispersion and walkoff between the control pulses and continuous lightwaves. Experimental and numerical simulation results show that the pulsewidths of the converted signals at different wavelengths are almost the same, and the pulsewidths are compressed when the peak power of the control pulse is smaller than a certain value. An RZ optical source containing eight wavelengths having a high sidemode suppression ratio, equal amplitudes and almost the same pulsewidths is obtained by using wavelength conversion in a NOLM consisting of a common dispersion shifted fiber. 10 Gb/s NRZ wavelength conversion based on the NOLM is demonstrated for the first time and certain conclusions in some of the references are confirmed by our experimental results.Index Terms-Cross-phase modulation (XPM), nonlinear optical loop mirror, optical time domain multiplexing (OTDM), wavelength conversion, wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM).