PPLN-based all-optical 40 Gbit/s three-input logic AND gate for both NRZ and RZ signals

Reported is an all-optical high-speed three-input logic AND gate using cascaded sum- and difference-frequency generation (cSFG/DFG) in a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide. The converted idler wave via cSFG/DFG carries the AND result of the three-input signals. PPLN-based 40 Gbit/s three-input logic AND operations for both non-return-to-zero (NRZ) and return-to-zero (RZ) signals are successfully demonstrated in the experiment.     

Tunable dual-channel multicasting all-optical 40 Gbit/s logic and operation and format conversion for CSRZ signals

Proposed and demonstrated is a novel approach of tunable multicasting simultaneous logic AND operation and format conversion for carrier-suppressed return-to-zero (CSRZ) signals. By exploiting cascaded sum- and difference-frequency generation in a periodically-poled lithium niobate waveguide, tunable dual-channel multicasting all-optical 40 Gbit/s CSRZ logic AND operation and CSRZ-to-RZ format conversion is successfully observed in the experiment.     

40-Gb/s Multichannel NRZ to CSRZ Format Conversion Using an SOA

An all-optical converter from nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) to carrier-suppressed return-to-zero modulation format is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The converter is based on cross gain and phase modulation in a semiconductor optical amplifier. Single- and multichannel operation is experimentally assessed at 40 Gb/s. In single-channel operation, the required optical signal-to-noise ratio for a bit-error rate of $10^{-9}$ is improved by 3 dB, in comparison to the input NRZ. Considering multichannel operation with two and four channels, this improvement decreases by only 0.6 and 1.5 dB, respectively.      

All-Optical Format Conversion From NRZ to BPSK Using a Single Saturated SOA

All-optical format conversion from nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) to binary phase-shift keying format is experimentally demonstrated at 8 Gb/s using a single semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). The conversion is based on the gain and phase modulations of the SOA on an input NRZ signal of finite extinction ratio     

All-optical in-band OSNR monitoring at 40 Gb/s using a nonlinear optical loop mirror

We present an all-optical in-band optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) monitor using a nonlinear optical loop mirror. Monitoring is enabled from the nonlinear power transfer function of the loop mirror. Experimental results are provided at 40 Gb/s for three modulation formats: nonreturn-to-zero, carrier-suppressed return-to-zero, and return-to-zero. The monitor discriminates the various OSNR levels over a dynamic range of more than 25 dB with every modulation format.     

All-Optical Conversion From RZ to NRZ Using Gain-Clamped SOA

An all-optical converter from return-to-zero (RZ) pulses to the nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) format is presented. The converter operates in two stages: the laser generated in a gain-clamped semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is modulated with the data signal; afterwards this signal is wavelength-converted by cross-gain modulation in a common SOA. The setup is noninverting and can feature wavelength conversion. Experimental error-free conversion from 5- and 40-ps RZ pulses to NRZ format is presented at 10 Gb/s using a 2¹¹-1 bit sequence     

Investigation of Transparency of FWM in SOA to Advanced Modulation Formats Involving Intensity, Phase, and Polarization Multiplexing

We experimentally investigate the real transparency of four-wave mixing (FWM) in semiconductor optical amplifiers to modulation formats involving intensity, phase, and polarization multiplexing. We exploit two different FWM polarization-independent schemes (that make use of two pumps) to wavelength-convert 40 Gb/s single-polarization and 80 Gb/s polarization-multiplexed signals in case of both nonreturn-to-zero ${ON}$ –${OFF}$ keying (NRZ-OOK) and NRZ differential phase-shift keying modulation formats. We found that, although FWM conversion is transparent to modulation formats employing phase and intensity, polarization-multiplexed signals pose serious limitations to all-optical processing transparency.      

Optically preamplified receiver performance due to VSB filtering for 40-Gb/s optical signals modulated with various formats

Optically preamplified receiver performance according to the vestigial sideband (VSB) filtering has been numerically investigated for 40-Gb/s optical signals modulated with nonreturn-to-zero, duobinary nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ), return-to-zero (RZ), carrier-suppressed RZ, and duobinary carrier-suppressed RZ formats. The VSB filtering enables the spectral widths of NRZ, duobinary NRZ, and RZ signals to be reduced without severe power penalties at the receiver. On the other hand, carrier-suppressed RZ and duobinary carrier-suppressed RZ signals have no large advantages over VSB filtering because of the characteristics of their signals. Our results suggest that RZ signals are the most suitable modulation format for VSB filtering, without considering the filter loss, because of the tolerance of the intersymbol interference and a large spectral width. However, duobinary NRZ signals are the most suitable modulation format for VSB filtering, considering the filter loss, because of their narrow spectral width.     

NRZ-OOK-to-RZ-BPSK modulation-format conversion using SOA-MZI wavelength converter

A novel all-optical modulation-format conversion from nonreturn-to-zero on-off keying (NRZ-OOK) to return-to-zero binary phase-shift keying (RZ-BPSK) is proposed. A Mach-Zehnder interferometric (MZI) wavelength converter consisting of integrated semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) is utilized to implement the proposed format conversion. Error-free operation at a bit rate of 10.7 Gb/s is experimentally demonstrated in order to show the feasibility of the proposed scheme. The received sensitivity of the converted signal is improved by 2.9 dB compared with a back-to-back NRZ-OOK signal at BER=10/sup -9/. In addition, a reasonable dispersion tolerance of the converted signal up to /spl plusmn/500 ps/nm is observed. The numerical simulation based upon the carrier-rate equation verifies the experimental results.     

Novel modulation and detection for bandwidth-reduced RZ formats using duobinary-mode splitting in wideband PSK/ASK conversion

This paper proposes a novel duobinary-mode-splitting scheme that uses wideband phase-shift-keying (PSK)/amplitude-shift-keying (ASK) conversion for modulation and detection of bandwidth-reduced return-to-zero (RZ) modulation formats. We have first demonstrated that the proposed scheme greatly simplifies the modulation process of the duobinary carrier-suppressed RZ format (DCS-RZ) based on baseband binary nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) modulation. We also proposed carrier-suppressed RZ differential-phase-shift-keying format (CS-RZ DPSK) as a novel bandwidth-reduced RZ format by applying the proposed scheme in the detection process. These novel RZ formats are shown to be very useful for dense wavelength-division multiplexed (DWDM) transport systems using high-speed channels, over 40 Gb/s, with spectrum efficiencies higher than 0.4 b/s/Hz. We demonstrate that the proposed modulation and detection scheme greatly simplifies the DWDM transmitter and receiver configuration if the periodicity of the optical PSK/ASK conversion filter equals the WDM channel spacing. The large tolerance of the formats against several fiber nonlinearities and their wide dispersion tolerance characteristics are tested at the channel rate of 43 Gb/s with 100-GHz spacing. The novel CS-RZ DPSK format offers higher nonlinearity tolerance against cross-phase modulation than does the DCS-RZ format.     

Phase Regeneration of NRZ-DPSK Signals Based on Symmetric-Pump Phase-Sensitive Amplification

Symmetric-pump phase-sensitive amplification (SP-PSA) is investigated experimentally. Symmetric pump waves are derived using carrier-suppressed return-to-zero modulation. The SP-PSA is used for phase regeneration of a phase-noise degraded nonreturn-to-zero differential phase-shift keying signal, significantly improving signal quality     

NRZ versus RZ in 10-40-Gb/s dispersion-managed WDM transmissionsystems

We compare nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) with return-to-zero (RZ) modulation format for wavelength-division-multiplexed systems operating at data rates up to 40 Gb/s. We find that in 10-40-Gb/s dispersion-managed systems (single-mode fiber alternating with dispersion compensating fiber), NRZ is more adversely affected by nonlinearities, whereas RZ is more affected by dispersion. In this dispersion map, 10- and 20-Gb/s systems operate better using RZ modulation format because nonlinearity dominates. However, 40-Gb/s systems favor the usage of NRZ because dispersion becomes the key limiting factor at 40 Gb/s     

Simultaneous Demodulation and Clock-Recovery of 40-Gb/s NRZ-DPSK Signals Using a Multiwavelength Gaussian Filter

We demonstrate a novel optical circuit that has the potential of simultaneous demodulation and all-optical clock-recovery of 40-Gb/s wavelength-division-multiplexing nonreturn-to-zero differential phase-shift keying (NRZ-DPSK) signals. A key device of the circuit is an ad hoc periodic fiber Bragg grating filter that simultaneously demodulates the input signals and seeds a series of clock recovery circuits. We report the complete characterization of the proposed scheme in the whole-band using a tunable transmitter. The DPSK demodulated signals show enhanced resilience to chromatic dispersion with respect to the usual NRZ _ON-OFF keying format. On the other hand, the recovered clock signals are very stable and have around 200-fs root-mean-square time jitter.     

40-gb/s NRZ and RZ operation of an all-optical AND logic gate based on a passive InGaAsP/InP microring resonator

The properties of an all-optical AND logic gate based on the four-wave mixing (FWM) effect in an InGaAsP/InP microring resonator side coupled to a bus waveguide are investigated. Using an ultrafast nonlinear process such as FWM, operation at a bit rate of 40 Gb/s is demonstrated for both nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) and return-to-zero (RZ) modulation formats. The gate operation in terms of microring structural parameters and operating conditions is studied.     

CF-RZ-DPSK for suppression of XPM on dispersion-managed long-hauloptical WDM transmission on standard single-mode fiber

We present a new optical modulation format chirp-free return-to-zero differential phase shift keying (CF-RZ-DPSK), which enables wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) transmission at 10 Gb/s/ch at a channel spacing of 100 GHz over 3000 km without significant impairments due to cross-phase modulation (XPM). A transmitter setup is presented, which allows a simple implementation of CF-RZ-DPSK with two Mach-Zehnder modulators in push-pull operation. The robustness toward XPM is shown theoretically with the help of a simple analytical model for the XPM-induced phase modulation. The superior performance of CF-RZ-DPSK over other modulation formats [RZ-ampfitude shift keying (ASK), nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ)-DPSK, and NRZ-ASK, respectively] is clarified. Finally, simulation results for CF-RZ-DPSK in comparison to RZ-ASK show the superior performance of the newly proposed modulation format in a dense WDM setup     

Extinction ratio improvement and wavelength conversion based onfour-wave mixing in a semiconductor optical amplifier

We have demonstrated an extinction ratio improvement of more than 3 dB at 2.5 Gb/s with a method based on four-wave mixing in a semiconductor optical amplifier. A wavelength conversion and a data format conversion from nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) to return-to-zero (RZ) have been simultaneously achieved     

All-Optical Modulation-Format Convertor Employing Polarization-Rotation-Type Nonlinear Optical Fiber Loop Mirror

An all-optical modulation-format convertor with regenerative function based on fiber nonlinearity is proposed and demonstrated. The convertor was formed utilizing polarization- rotation-type nonlinear optical fiber loop mirror and could operate at both on–off keying (OOK) to OOK and OOK to phase-shift keying (PSK) format conversions only by simply rotating the optical axis of the intra $lambda/2$ waveplate, without excess-loss generation and realignment of the driving conditions of control optical signals in the format exchange. The 40-Gb/s OOK to OOK/PSK format conversions were successfully performed utilizing this new type of the all-optical convertor. The results also revealed that this convertor has a reshaping function to degraded control signals as an inline all-optical regenerator.      

Chirp consequences of all-optical RZ to NRZ conversion usingcross-phase modulation in an active semiconductor photonic integratedcircuit

Data is converted from return-to-zero (RZ) to nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) format, at 5 Gb/s using a Mach-Zehnder (MZ) interferometric wavelength conversion photonic integrated circuit. The resulting NRZ data has chirp on both its leading and trailing edges. Nevertheless, propagation up to 240 km is reported     

Measured Noise Performance for Heterodyne Detection of 10-Gb/s OOK and DPSK

Heterodyne detection of 10-Gb/s nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) on-off keying and NRZ differential phase-shift keying is demonstrated. The noise performance of the heterodyne receiver with and without the use of an optical preamplifier is experimentally investigated     

Optical Reshaping of 40-Gb/s NRZ and RZ Signals Without Wavelength Conversion

We experimentally demonstrate a scheme for all-optical reshaping at 40 Gb/s that is wavelength preserving and transparent to both nonreturn-to-zero and return-to-zero on-off keying signals. Eye-diagram reshaping is confirmed by means of bit-error rate versus threshold measurements on both modulation formats. The scheme is based on cross-gain compression in an semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and uses two SOAs that are not in interferometric configuration. Due to its working principle, this method is polarization-independent and suitable, in principle, for higher bit rates.