Abstract

High speed optical signal processing becomes a key issue in new high bit-rate optical networks. Switching, gating, wavelength conversion and regeneration increase the performance and flexibility of networks. Semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA) represent strong candidates for inclusion in operational schemes. They exhibit optical gain, strong non linear behavior and can be integrated in photonic circuits. Cross-gain, cross-phase modulation and four-wave mixing have received a lot of attention recently. Cross-polarization modulation has been studied in a recent paper[1]. We demonstrate here two experimental schemes performing an all-optical switch and a XOR gate respectively including fast operation.

© 2000 IEEE