Folded-path self-pumped wavelength converter based on four-wave mixing in a semiconductor optical amplifier

A four-wave mixing wavelength converter with no external pump laser and very low input signal power requirements is characterized. The wavelength conversion occurs inside a high-reflection/antireflection coated semiconductor optical amplifier pigtailed with a fiber Bragg grating. The pump signal is provided by the lasing mode at the Bragg wavelength. A 1-mW optical signal modulated at 2.5 Gb/s is converted over 9 mm with error rates below 10^-9

Wavelength conversion by cavity-enhanced injection-locked four-wavemixing in a fiber-Bragg-grating coupled diode laser

Four-wave mixing (FWM) in a fiber-Bragg-grating (FBG) coupled semiconductor laser is investigated. We show that a large resonance enhancement of the FWM conversion efficiency can be obtained when the laser cavity is injection-locked by the converted signal, and apply this technique to the wavelength conversion of 1-Gb/s modulated signals. Furthermore, we discuss how the spectral width of these resonances can be increased to make this approach suitable to higher bit rates

Cascaded wavelength conversion by four-wave mixing in a strained semiconductor optical amplifier at 10 Gb/s

We demonstrate for the first time cascaded wavelength conversion by four-wave mixing in a semiconductor optical amplifier. Bit-error-rate performance of <10^-9 at 10 Gb/s is achieved for two conversions of up to 9 nm down and up in wavelength. For two wavelength conversions of 5 nm down and up, a power penalty of 1.3 dB is measured. A system of two wavelength converters spanning 40 km of single-mode fiber is also demonstrated

Wavelength conversion up to 18 nm at 10 Gb/s by four-wave mixing in a semiconductor optical amplifier

We characterize the conversion bandwidth of a four-wave mixing semiconductor optical amplifier wavelength converter. Conversion of 10-Gb/s signals with bit-error-rate (BER) performance of <10^-9 is demonstrated for wavelength down-shifts of up to 18 nm and upshifts of up to 10 nm

Wavelength conversion by four-wave mixing in semiconductor optical amplifiers

Time-resolved spectral analysis is performed on 10 Gb/s signals wavelength converted by four-wave mixing (FWM) in semiconductor optical amplifiers. A pattern-dependent chirp resulting from parasitic gain modulation by the signal is measured and characterized as a function of the converter's pump-to-probe ratio. This chirp is found to be insignificant for pump-to-probe ratios exceeding 9 dB

Wavelength conversion for WDM communication systems using four-wavemixing in semiconductor optical amplifiers

Four-wave mixing (FWM) in semiconductor optical amplifiers is an attractive mechanism for wavelength conversion in wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) systems since it provides modulation format and bit rate transparency over wide tuning ranges. A series of systems experiments evaluating several aspects of the performance of these devices at bit rates of 2.5 and 10 Gb/s are presented. Included are single-channel conversion over 18 nm of shift at 10 Gb/s, multichannel conversion, and cascaded conversions. In addition time resolved spectral analysis of wavelength conversion is presented

Time-resolved Spectral Analysis Of Phase Conjugation By Four-wave Mixing In Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers

Optical phase conjugation provides a mechanism for achieving dispersion compensation in optical fibers. This has been demonstrated by four-wave mixing (FWM) in both fiber and semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs). Imperfect phase conjugation will prevent exact reconstruction of a dispersed data stream. Here we use time-resolved spectral analysis (TRSA) to evaluate the performance of FWM in SOAs for phase conjugation

Resonance enhancement of the four-wave mixing efficiency by injection locking in a fiber Bragg-grating-coupled semiconductor laser

Four-wave mixing (FWM) in semiconductor optical amplifiers has received considerable attention in recent years, both as a tool to study the high-speed dynamics of these devices, and because of its potential applications to wavelength conversion and all-optical switching. In order to optimize the performance of FWM-based devices, much effort has been devoted to improving the FWM conversion efficiency and signal-to-noise ratio. In this paper, we present a novel FWM configuration in which the converted signal frequency coincides with a mode of a subthreshold fiber Bragg-grating-coupled semiconductor laser, leading to an enhancement of the conversion efficiency of more than 20 dB

Wavelength conversion for WDM communication systems using four-wave mixing in semiconductor amplifiers

Abstract—Four-wave mixing (FWM) in semiconductor optical amplifiers is an attractive mechanism for wavelength conversion in wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) systems since it pro-vides modulation format and bit rate transparency over wide tuning ranges. A series of systems experiments evaluating several aspects of the performance of these devices at bit rates of 2.5 and 10 Gb/s are presented. Included are single-channel conversion over 18 nm of shift at 10 Gb/s, multichannel conversion, and cascaded conversions. In addition time resolved spectral analysis of wavelength conversion is presented. Index Terms—Communication systems, frequency conversion, optical mixing, semiconductor optical amplifier. I. FOUR-WAVE MIXING WAVELENGTH CONVERTERS A