Optical wavelength conversion by electro-absorption modulators

Kohsuke Nishimura; Masashi Usami

doi:10.1117/12.571281

25 October 2004 Optical wavelength conversion by electro-absorption modulators

Kohsuke Nishimura, Masashi Usami

Proceedings Volume 5595, Active and Passive Optical Components for WDM Communications IV; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.571281
Event: Optics East, 2004, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Abstract

All-optical wavelength conversion is one of the key technologies in future wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) transparent photonic network. An electro-absorption modulator (EAM) is one of promising candidates for optical nonlinear element to realize optical wavelength conversion due that it has fast absorption recovery in comparison to slow gain recovery of a semiconductor optical amplifier while it has moderate conversion efficiency in comparison to silica fibers or electro-optic dielectric materials. In this paper, cross-absorption modulation (XAM) and cross-phase modulation (XPM) characteristics as well as absorption recovery time of EAM having multiple quantum well (MQW) absorption layer was quantitatively analyzed. Absorption recovery time less than 10 ps were achieved for the MQW EAM due to fast sweep-out of photogenerated carriers by the external electric field. The phase shift induced by 1.5 pJ pulse injection was about 0.2. All-optical 2R type wavelength converter using the MQW EAM in conjunction with delayed-interferometer was tested at bit-rate of 100 Gbit/s. Error-free conversion was successfully confirmed. The operable wavelength bandwidth was investigated at 40 Gbit/s. The bandwidth of 30 nm covering almost full C-band was confirmed. An electro-optical 3R type wavelength converter utilizing rf-driven EAM was also proposed and demonstrated. The intentionally added timing jitter onto the input signal was reduced with simultaneous contrast ratio improvement after the 3R wavelength conversion due to periodical gate closing by the rf-clock drive. These results show that EAM is suitable for optical wavelength conversion at bit-rate range of 40-100 Gbit/s with a reasonable conversion efficiency.

Citation Download Citation

Kohsuke Nishimura and Masashi Usami "Optical wavelength conversion by electro-absorption modulators", Proc. SPIE 5595, Active and Passive Optical Components for WDM Communications IV, (25 October 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.571281

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