All optical SR and D flip-flop employing XGM effect in semiconductor optical amplifiers

This paper presents a simple and novel scheme for all-optical SR and D flip-flop employing cross gain modulation (XGM) effect in two wideband semiconductor optical amplifiers. The proposed flip-flop has a fast response, with less than 20 ps transition times for both rising and falling edges. The FF speed-limit is mainly determined by the SOA recovery time and the intra-FF coupling length. The simulation results exhibit a contrast ratio of 13 dB between two states with an AM of less than 2.5 dB.The distinctive simplicity of the flip-flop implies reduced footprint and low power consumption which makes it ideal for photonic integration.     

Simulation and evaluation of phase noise for optical amplification using semiconductor optical amplifiers in DPSK applications

A thorough simulation and evaluation of phase noise for optical amplification using semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is very important for predicting its performance in differential phase-shift keyed (DPSK) applications. In this paper, standard deviation and probability distribution of differential phase noise at the SOA output are obtained from the statistics of simulated differential phase noise. By using a full-wave model of SOA, the noise performance in the entire operation range can be investigated. It is shown that nonlinear phase noise substantially contributes to the total phase noise in case of a noisy signal amplified by a saturated SOA and the nonlinear contribution is larger with shorter SOA carrier lifetime. It is also shown that Gaussian distribution can be useful as a good approximation of the total differential phase noise statistics in the whole operation range. Power penalty due to differential phase noise is evaluated using a semi-analytical probability density function (PDF) of receiver noise. Obvious increase of power penalty at high signal input powers can be found for low input OSNR, which is due to both the large nonlinear differential phase noise and the dependence of BER vs. receiving power curvature on differential phase noise standard deviation.     

Analysis of multitone microwave signals on optical fiber system using external laser modulation

In this paper, we Analyze multitone microwave signals on optical fiber with different tone signals and utilizing various possibilities of regeneration and amplification by different means. We compare out the performance analysis of Erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) and Semi-conductor Optical Amplifiers (SOA). One tone's frequency varies from 1 to 20 GHz through parametric runs and other has fixed frequency of 5 GHz and third harmonic tones may be monitored.     

Filter-free ultrawideband generation based on semiconductor optical amplifier nonlinearities

A filter-free scheme for ultrawideband (UWB) generation with single semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is proposed and demonstrated. A pair of polarity-reversed optical pulses is generated due to cross gain modulation (XGM) in the pump-probe scheme, whereas the amplified pump pulse becomes sharp at its leading edge such that the power peak is shifted forward. Hence, the combination of the pump and probe signals at the SOA output is quasi-monocycle shape. Our scheme is an improved scheme to avoid exploiting optical filters and time-delay devices. The generated UWB radio frequency spectrum shows good stability when the input probe power varies from −10 dBm to 6 dBm, the probe wavelength varies in the whole C-band, and the bias current varies from 100 mA to 240 mA. Although the generated quasi-monocycle deviates from a standard Gauss monocycle to some extent, the frequency spectrum conforms to the UWB regulation. Two SOAs with different XGM dynamics are compared in generating UWB signals.     

Simulative investigation the impact of optical amplification techniques on single- and dual-electrode MZM and direct modulator's in single-tone RoF system

Since the introduction of erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) in optical fiber communication systems at 1550 nm, the fiber loss is no longer considered as the limiting factor but the fiber dispersion and chirp parameters play an important role in degrading the performance of optical communication systems. Further, the invention of external modulators of Mach-Zehnder (MS) type minimizes the transmission power penalty due to fiber chromatic dispersion as these modulators are consider almost chirp-free modulators. Also, better suppression of nonlinear distortions consists of harmonic distortions (HDs) and intermodulation distortions (IMDs) were achieved by using Mach-Zehnder external modulator [8]. In this work, a simulation comparison of external- and direct-modulation schemes using different optical amplifiers; SOA and EDFA in single-tone RoF system is reported. A single-tone channel of 20 GHz is transmitted over single-mode fiber (SMF) either externally modulated by using single-electrode (SEMZM) - and dual-electrode (DEMZM) - Mach-Zehnder modulator or by direct-modulation scheme. Better improvements in the measurement of received RF power of a 20 km linked single-tone RoF system are achieved by using SEMZM with EDFA, which means maximum optical link is achieved between Central Office (CO) and Base Station (BS). Further, this scheme provides better BER as compare to other schemes discussed in this paper.     

Simulative investigation of the impact of EDFA and SOA over BER of a single-tone RoF system

In this paper, we investigate the impact of EDFA and SOA amplifiers over BER and Q-parameter of a Radio-over-Fiber (Rof) system consisting of two different system set-ups using direct- and external-laser modulation techniques. In this work, we also measured and compared the electric Rf power at receiver at different modulating Rf frequencies up to 20 GHz using two different optical amplifiers, i.e. EDFA and SOA. Further, we also compared the received electric Rf power at different optical powers without and with different optical amplifiers. An improvement of −11 dB (approx.) of received Rf power was observed using EDFA with the external modulation technique, on comparing with direct modulation.     

低噪声、高增益的L -band EDFA的实验研究

针对传统的L-band EDFA的工作效率低,提出了一种基于单根光纤光栅、泵浦分配、两段级联的EDFA的新结构,其中的光纤光栅用来反射无用的后向C-band ASE.系统地研究了泵浦比例和光纤光栅波长对增益噪声指数的影响关系.最后经实验验证,得到了低噪声、高增益的L-band的EDFA.其在输入信号光（1570 nm）功率为-30 dBm及泵浦功率为70 mW时,增益为22.26 dB,增益噪声指数为4.96 dB.     

40 Gb/s all-optical logic NOR and OR gates using a semiconductor optical amplifier: Experimental demonstration and theoretical analysis

We experimentally and theoretically demonstrate 40 Gb/s all-optical logic NOR and OR gates based on a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and a blue shifted optical bandpass filter (OBF). Two kinds of data formats are discussed, namely return-to-zero (RZ) format and nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) format. The logic NOR and OR functions of RZ format are realized at the OBF detuning of −0.22 nm and −0.44 nm, respectively. The logic NOR function of NRZ format is realized at the OBF detuning of −0.24 nm. The simulation is in good agreement with the experimental results when the linewidth enhancement factor is 5.5. The simulation also shows that the SOA with large linewidth enhancement factor is preferred to achieve NOR and OR functions with good performance. The input data signal is of good pulsewidth-tolerance for NOR function, whereas not for OR function. The high Q factor could be obtained at narrow pulses injection.     

Microwave photonic filter with multiple taps based on single semiconductor optical amplifier

A novel technique to implement a microwave photonic filter structure with multiple taps and arbitrary frequency response is presented. The proposed filter is based on Four-Wave Mixing (FWM) and Cross-Gain Modulation (XGM) in a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). Two-tap notch filter and three-tap bandpass filter with arbitrary bipolar tap generation, high rejection ratio, and widely tunability are successfully demonstrated in the experiment. Extensions to this concept by adding new probe light to provide more taps and improve the bandwidth to high frequency regime are also discussed.     

All-optical NRZ-OOK-to-RZ-OOK format conversions with tunable duty cycles using nonlinear polarization rotation of a semiconductor optical amplifier

We experimentally demonstrate an all-optical 10 Gb/s format conversion from non-return-to-zero (NRZ) on-off-keying (OOK) to return-to-zero (RZ)-OOK with tunable duty cycle in the whole C-band using nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) arising in an semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). The experimental results show that, by tuning the polarizer at the SOA output, an RZ signal with tunable duty cycle from 33% to 66% could be obtained with an extinction ratio(ER) over 10 dB. In addition, we show that the NRZ-to-RZ conversion with duty cycle of 33-66% can be obtained with less than 1 dB power penalty at the bit error ratio (BER) of 10⁻⁹. The device can facilitate the cross-connection between optical transmission networks employing different modulation formats.     

Thermal noise for SBS suppression in fiber optical parametric amplifiers

We demonstrate a new and simple solution to suppress stimulated Brillouin scattering in fiber optical parametric amplifiers. Cumbersome PRBS or sinusoidal generators used to broaden the pump spectrum are replaced by a filtered microwave noise source. Stimulated Brillouin scattering threshold can be increased up to large values still keeping an excellent quality of amplification of nonreturn to zero signals. The simplicity and the performances of this setup open the way for a wide variety of applications for FOPAs.     

Study on the dynamic range of input power for wavelength converter based on cross-phase modulation in SOAs

In this paper, the dynamic range of input power for wavelength converter based on cross-phase modulation (XPM) in semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is studied. The dynamic range of input power is associated with the linewidth enhancement factor , which is influenced by optical wavelength and power. Shorter wavelength and larger power can induce smaller and lead to a larger dynamic range, while the gain modulation is more severe. Through dynamically controlling the current of the phase arm of the XPM wavelength converter by the detection of the input signal power level, the dynamic range of input power can be increased from 2 to 17 dB.     

Measurement of nonlinear phase of a SOA using an asymmetric loop mirror

We use a setup based on an asymmetric Sagnac interferometer to demonstrate an experimental methodology to characterize the nonlinear phase of a semiconductor optical amplifier as a function of input intensity.     

光纤布喇格光栅作为增益均衡器的掺铒光纤EDFA放大器

采用平均反转率模型分析了带光纤布喇格光栅的增益平坦掺铒光纤放大器,其输出增益可由一组耦合超越方程描述,而非耦合微分方程,同时讨论了用于增益平坦的布喇格光栅的最佳位置设计作为增益建模和最佳设计实例,对于输入功率0.5mW位于1545～1552nm的8个波长信道,得到的输出增益不平坦度小于0.05dB.最后还证实了布喇格光栅作为增益均衡器具有高输出功率和功率转换效率的优越性.     

Tunable 19 × 10 GHz L-band FP-SOA based multi-wavelength mode-locked fiber laser

We present a multi-wavelength mode-locked fiber ring laser incorporating a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and a Fabry-Perot semiconductor optical amplifier (FP-SOA). Because the gain of the SOA is depleted by an external injection optical signal, the SOA acts as a loss modulator. The FP-SOA serves as a tunable comb filter. The presented laser source can generate 19 synchronized wavelength channels with the extinction ratio of about 21 dB, each mode-locked at 10 GHz, and mode-locked pulse width is about 40 ps. Oscillation wavelengths band can be tuned by adjusting the bias current of the SOA, and wavelength spacing also can be changed by using a tunable optical delay line (ODL) or a temperature controller. The polarization-insensitive devices ensure that the output power is rather stable. This fiber laser has potential applications in longer waveband (L-band) within the low-attenuation window.     

基于半导体光放大器交叉偏振调制的波长转换理论研究

在半导体光放大器中,采用由张应变引起的自身双折射理论模型对交叉偏振调制型全光波长转换器的波长转换特性进行了数值研究,并对数值结果与相关实验进行了对比。结果表明:通过调节系统参量,可以实现同相或反相波长转换;同相和反相波长转换时输出的信号啁啾、消光比和眼图具有不同特性;随着数据传输速率的增加,输出信号的眼图张开度减小,啁啾变大。     

Synthesis of optical standard frequencies in the S, C and L telecommunication bands by use of four-wave mixing in semiconductor optical amplifiers

The generation of standard reference frequencies close to the ITU channels is essential for the calibration and maintenance of DWDM systems. This work describes a method to synthesize frequency references in the range from 187.1 to 205.1 THz (1462-1602 nm). The method is based on the generation of four equispaced frequencies (by the process of four-wave mixing in a semiconductor amplifier) of which two are locked to absorption lines of the acetylene ¹²C₂H₂ (1511-1542 nm).     

Experimental and theoretical studies of a high repetition rate fiber laser, mode-locked by external optical modulation

An experimental and theoretical study of a high repetition rate laser source operating on a novel mode-locking technique is presented. This technique relies on the fast saturation and recovery of a semiconductor optical amplifier induced by an external optical pulse and has been used to obtain 4.3 ps pulses at 20 GHz. A complete mathematical model of the fiber ring laser is presented describing the mode-locking process in the laser oscillator and providing solutions for the steady-state mode-locked pulse profile. The critical parameters of the system are defined and analyzed and their impact on the formation of the mode-locked pulses is examined. The comparison between the theoretical results and the experimental data reveals very good agreement and has allowed the optimization of the performance of the system in terms of its critical parameters.     

Enhanced performance for 10 Gb/s long reach RSOA based WDM-PON by using power pre-emphasized OFDM signal

An extended reach 10 Gb/s wavelength division multiplexing passive optical networks (WDM-PONs) system based on reflective semiconductor optical amplifier (RSOA) is proposed by using power pre-emphasized orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal. Experimental results show that the proposed technique can effectively enhance the system performance against the limited bandwidth and chirp induced fading effect from direct modulation of RSOA. The receiver sensitivity is improved by 5 dB at the limit of BER for forward error correction (FEC) code over the 60 km and 85 km fiber transmission without any dispersion compensation module.     

Realization of free space optics with OFDM under atmospheric turbulence

Free space optics (FSO) technology provides a promising solution for future broadband networks, offering high data transmission compared to RF technology. This work is focused on investigating the performance of an FSO system with OFDM and QAM. A 10 Gbps data stream is transmitted using a 4-level QAM sequence through the FSO system under different atmospheric conditions. Results indicate that the integration of SOA prolongs the maximum achievable distance with acceptable SNR to 185 km under clear weather conditions whereas under atmospheric fog, the maximum distance is extended to 2.5 km.