3R optical regeneration with simultaneous optical clock recovery and all-optical wavelength conversion using a single electro-absorption modulator

Abstract

Summary form only given. 3R regeneration is essential for long haul all-optical networks to preserve data quality and improve transmission distance. We demonstrate 3R regeneration with clock recovery and wavelength conversion using a single electro-absorption modulator (EAM). The nonlinear optical transmission characteristic of the EAM under reverse biasing allows re-shaping of the degraded data. At the same time, the EAM is used to perform all-optical timing extraction that is used for optical clock recovery. Using the input data pulses as the control optical pump for the EAM, we transcribe the input data pattern onto the clean, amplified, and re-timed optical clock pulses that already have a wavelength different than that of the data.