Abstract
Ultrafast all-optical wavelength converters will be needed for next-generation communications systems. One of proposed configuration [1] uses cross-phase modulation (XPM) in a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). Here, the driving signal of wavelength λ1, changes the gain and refractive index of the SOA, which in turns modifies the amplitude and phase of the continuous signal of wavelength λ2 that passes simultaneously through the SOA. It was shown that XPM prevails over the cross gain modulation [1], Ueno [1] suggested that an imbalanced symmetric (with couplers of 50/50 splitting ratio) Mach-Zehnder-based filter could convert this signal to an amplitude-modulated signal. The function of the fdter is twofold - first, it suppresses the carrier frequency and second, it inverts the phase of a half of the signal spectrum [1], Without this spectral phase-locking, the output would consist of double-pulses rather than of transform-limited pulses [1], Recently, it was shown [2] that a long-period fiber grating (LPG) could provide the spectral and phase characteristics that are required for this application. However, the use of the LPG as a spectral filter in an ultrafast SOA-based wavelength converter has not been suggested so far.
© 2007 IEEE
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