Scalable WDM phase regeneration in a single phase-sensitive amplifier through optical time lenses

Abstract

Optical data regeneration is attractive, due to its potential to increase transmission reach and data throughput in communication systems, and several interesting proposals have been made. However, efficient and scalable solutions for regeneration of multiple parallel wavelength channels have been elusive, constituting a key challenge, which must be overcome for optical regeneration to have any prospect of being adapted in actual communication systems. Here we report a scalable wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) regeneration scheme for phase only regeneration, which satisfies the multichannel requirement, using a set of optical time-lens-based Fourier processors combined with a single phase-sensitive amplifier (PSA). We describe the concept theoretically, and experimentally demonstrate simultaneous regeneration of 16 WDM channels with 50-GHz spacing, each carrying 10-Gbit/s DPSK phase-modulated data. The proposed scheme relies on ultrafast broadband optical processing and is inherently scalable in modulation speed and channel number.

Recent Progress on Optical Regeneration of Wavelength-Division-Multiplexed Data

“…In Section III we will discuss in more detail how a time-lens-based system relaxes the requirement of having short pulses in the WDM channels. Using that approach 16 WDM channels have been simultaneously regenerated [19].…”

All-Optical Multi-Level Phase Quantization Based on Phase-Sensitive Amplification With Low-Order Harmonics

“…There have been already many studies on optical amplitude quantization [3]- [6]. However, optical phase quantization has recently attracted considerable attention in optical signal processing field such as optical analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) and regeneration of phase encoding signals in fiber communications [7]- [11]. In terms of optical ADC, quantization precision is a critical factor to influence the result.…”

Optimization and characterization of highly nonlinear fiber for broadband optical time lens applications

“…The versatility of the optical Fourier transformation (OFT) [1,2], which can be obtained at the focal point of a time lens [3], has been shown by the many demonstrations of ultrafast advanced optical signal processing (OSP) [4][5][6][7][8][9]. Time lens theory originates with the spacetime duality [3], which formulates the equivalence between thin lens refraction and quadratic phase modulation.…”