Compact all-optical packet clock and data recovery circuit using generic integrated MZI switches

P Bakopoulos,H Avramopoulos,A Poustie,G Maxwell,D Tsiokos,O Zouraraki

doi:10.1364/opex.13.006401

P Bakopoulos, H Avramopoulos + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1364/opex.13.006401

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Abstract

We present and evaluate a compact, all-optical Clock and Data Recovery (CDR) circuit based on integrated Mach Zehnder interferometric switches. Successful operation for short packet-mode traffic of variable length and phase alignment is demonstrated. The acquired clock signal rises within 2 bits and decays within 15 bits, irrespective of packet length and phase. Error-free operation is demonstrated at 10 Gb/s.

Highlights

The continuing research efforts in photonic integration have led to the development of highspeed, semiconductor based, all-optical switches offering compact size [1] with good potential for their commercial uptake and use in a variety of applications
We present and evaluate a compact, all-optical Clock and Data Recovery (CDR) circuit based on integrated Mach Zehnder interferometric switches
Error-free operation is demonstrated at 10 Gb/s

Summary

Introduction

The continuing research efforts in photonic integration have led to the development of highspeed, semiconductor based, all-optical switches offering compact size [1] with good potential for their commercial uptake and use in a variety of applications. Asynchronous all-optical packet-mode operation of CDR has been demonstrated at 40 Gb/s with a self-pulsating laser for clock extraction and an ultra-long SOA for regeneration of the incoming data [6] This approach requires specialized fabrication process for the selfpulsating laser and lacks the potential for large-scale cost reduction, which can be provided by a generic and multifunctional all-optical switch. The clock recovery circuit consisted of a low-Q, micrometer adjustable bulk Fabry-Pérot etalon with free spectral range chosen at the line rate and followed by an all-optical switch while data recovery was obtained using a second all-optical switch Both all-optical switches were Ultrafast Nonlinear Interferometers (UNI) constructed from bulk components and used semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs). In this experiment a FabryPerot filter with finesse 20.7 was used in the clock recovery which provided short fall time resulting in pulse amplitude modulation at the recovered clock

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