Abstract

The ability to translate arbitrarily the frequency of an optical signal at high bit rate from one wavelength to another is crucial to the implementation of a variety of all-optical networks. Cross gain compression in semiconductor optical amplifiers¹ (SOAs) has been used as a mechanism for wavelength conversion at bit rates as high as 4 Gbit/s.^2-4 In this approach an intensity- modulated signal (the pump) and a cw beam (the probe) are input to an SOA. Because the pump is intense enough to compress significantly the gain of the amplifier, the cw probe is encoded with the complementary signal to the pump. The pump and probe wavelengths can be chosen arbitrarily within the gain spectrum of the SOA, which is typically 50 nm. The speed limitation for such a wavelength converter is determined by the gain-recovery time of the amplifier.

© 1994 Optical Society of America