Experimental demonstration of 15 dB extinction ratio improvement in a new 2R optical regenerator based on an MMI-SOA

Experimental demonstration of all-optical regeneration using an MMI-SOA

“…6 presents the measurements of an MMI with a length of 550 m at different currents, still obtaining good results. Experimental results on an MMI of 580 m in length have been presented in [5]. This means that the MMI-SOA performs good regenerative properties over a range of 30 m. Because the length of the MMI is related to the width, following the expression in (1), this tolerance in length corresponds to a tolerance in width of 0.1 m which is technologically acceptable.…”

“…In addition, to get a good regeneration characteristic, a cascade of several MZIs is needed [4]. Some time ago, we have proposed another type of 2R regenerator based on a multimode interference coupler (MMI)-semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) with the potential of a digital static regeneration characteristic and a large increase of extinction ratio [5]. In this letter, the simulation of this device is described and first experimental results are shown.…”

Some New Concepts for All-Optical 2R Regeneration Using InP-Based Photonic Integrated Circuits

“…This obviously means that in reality is not possible to obtain simultaneously a phase difference of 1t and equal gain in both arms. However, it turns out that, due to the asymmetry of the structure, it is possible to obtain a phase difference of 1t with a relatively small difference in gain between both arms [9]. The experimental regeneration characteristic (shown in Figure 7) shows a large increase in extinction ratio, from 6 dB to over 20 dB.…”

Non Inverting and Non Filtered Wavelength Converter Based on an InAs/InP(100) QD Ring Laser at 1.55μm

“…It was experimentally found that it is of key importance that SMSR be as high as possible to ensure a good extinction ratio for the converted signal. If in addition the injected laser light has a wavelength which does not agree with any of the supported longitudal modes of Naturally all of the input light travels through the directional coupler structure which is actively pumped by the same electrode pumping the ring laser, thus the coupling ratio of the coupler is altered by the introduction of an optical input pump (during the data "1") [9]. It has been shown [11] that close to critical coupling of a ring structure, small changes in coupling coefficients can result in large changes in transmitted power of a ring resonator.…”

“…A data signal modulated onto an external optical field and injected into this laser structure via one of the laser's two output waveguides will result in a non-inverted wavelength converted signal which requires no optical filtering since the incoming data signal and wavelength converted one travel in opposite directions. The whole device is fabricated in InAs/InGaAsP/InP (100) QD material, wavelength tuned into the 1.55µm region [8]- [9], a very promising material for modulated operation due to the suppressed relaxation oscillations and the fast gain recovery [10]. The concept was successfully demonstrated using a 2mm long QD ring laser and 200 micron long directional coupler at speeds up to 1Gb/s.…”