Fast Reconfigurable SOA-Based Wavelength Conversion of Advanced Modulation Format Data

Yi Lin,Liam P. Barry,Sean P. Ó Dúill,Fan Liu,Aravind P. Anthur,Yonglin Yu

doi:10.3390/app7101033

Abstract

We theoretically analyze the phase noise transfer issue between the pump and the wavelength-converted idler for a nondegenerate four-wave mixing (FWM) scheme, as well as study the vector theory in nonlinear semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs), in order to design a polarization-insensitive wavelength conversion system employing dual co-polarized pumps. A tunable sampled grating distributed Bragg reflector (SG-DBR) pump laser has been utilized to enable fast wavelength conversion in the sub-microsecond timescale. By using the detailed characterization of the SGDBR laser, we discuss the phase noise performance of the SGDBR laser. Finally, we present a reconfigurable SOA-based all-optical wavelength converter using the fast switching SGDBR tunable laser as one of the pump sources and experimentally study the wavelength conversion of the single polarization quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) and polarization multiplexed (Pol-Mux) QPSK signals at 12.5-Gbaud. A wide tuning range (>10 nm) and less than 50 ns and 160 ns reconfiguration time have been achieved for the wavelength conversion system for QPSK and PM-QPSK signals, respectively. The performance under the switching environment after the required reconfiguration time is the same as the static case when the wavelengths are fixed.

Highlights

The massive growth in the demand for bandwidth for multimedia services and interactive networks is shaping a new era for today’s communication networks
[36] and experimentally demonstrate rapid wavelength conversion of a PM-quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) signal with the we provide a complete set of experimental results for single polarization QPSK [36] and experimentally switching time of tens of nanoseconds using a fast-switching, tunable laser as one of the pumps in a demonstrate rapid wavelength conversion of a PM-QPSK signal with the switching time of tens of dual wavelength pumping scheme
It can be seen that the Biterror error rate (BER) versus optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) performance in a switching scenario corresponds with the static performance shown in Figure 7a,b, which indicates that the incoming signal can be

Summary

Introduction

The massive growth in the demand for bandwidth for multimedia services and interactive networks is shaping a new era for today’s communication networks. Future networks need to offer bandwidth-hungry applications like telemedicine, IP-TV, virtual reality gaming, video-on-demand, and high-speed internet access, combined with guaranteed Quality of Service [1]. All-optical wavelength converters which typically comprise of tunable pump lasers, nonlinear media, and the tunable optical filter, are expected to be one of the key components in these broadband networks. They can be used to interface different networks and potentially increase the capacity of a communication system [2,3]. The wavelength converters can be used at the network nodes to avoid contention and to dynamically allocate wavelengths to ensure optimum use of fiber bandwidth [4]

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion