All-optical clock extraction from 40-Gbit/s NRZ data using cascaded long-period fiber grating

All-optical clock extraction from a 40-Gbit/s NRZ input signal is demonstrated using a cascaded long-period fiber grating (CLPG) and a mode-locked fiber ring laser. The CLPG has a Mach–Zehnder configuration with two arms along the core and cladding regions. Using the difference in propagation delay between two arms, the non-return-to-zero (NRZ) signal is converted to the pseudo-return-to-zero (PRZ) signal. To obtain repetitive pulses as a clock signal from the PRZ signal, a ring laser with a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is used. Subsequently, the measured carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the PRZ and clock signals are enhanced up to 30 dB and 31 dB, respectively, compared to that of the original NRZ signal. Also, the clock signal centered at 40 GHz has a low timing jitter of <1.3 ps. It is expected that this method can be applied to high speed fiber-optic systems of >40 Gbit/s due to its small time delay between the core and cladding regions.