Absorptive nonlinear semiconductor amplifiers for fast optical switching

Peter E. Barnsley; Ian Marshall; Phillip J. Fiddyment; Michael J. Robertson

doi:10.1117/12.25046

1 March 1991 Absorptive nonlinear semiconductor amplifiers for fast optical switching

Peter E. Barnsley, Ian Marshall, Phillip J. Fiddyment, Michael J. Robertson

Proceedings Volume 1378, Optically Activated Switching; (1991) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.25046
Event: Advances in Intelligent Robotics Systems, 1990, Boston, MA, United States

Abstract

We demonstrate optical switching using split contact semiconductor absorptive nonlinear optical amplifiers. All-optical time switching of 500 MBit/s data with a rise time of 100 ps has been demonstrated. Fall times of 85ps can be achieved by reverse biasing the absorber section of the amplifier. The switch had a minimum switching threshold of 1 iW a switch gain of 1O dB and can operate over a 60 nm wavelength range around 1 . 55pm. Such a switch may be suitable for application in packet switched networks with multi-GBit/s header speeds. Wavelength switching using the same nonlinear amplifier is also demonstrated. 400 MBit/s data was converted over 35THz from 1 . 3 1im to wavelengths between 1 . 53 . tm and 1 . 585 pm. The minimum power at 1 . 3 1 jim required was ''60 iW. Such nonlinear optical amplifiers can give added flexibility in both TDM and WDM systems and are therefore likely to play a major role in future all-optical networks.

Citation Download Citation

Peter E. Barnsley, Ian Marshall, Phillip J. Fiddyment, and Michael J. Robertson "Absorptive nonlinear semiconductor amplifiers for fast optical switching", Proc. SPIE 1378, Optically Activated Switching, (1 March 1991); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.25046

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