Signal-to-noise ratio improvement of a supercontinuum continuous-wave optical source using a dispersion-imbalanced nonlinear optical loop mirror

A multiwavelength continuous-wave (cw) optical source is based on supercontinuum (sc) produced in a highly nonlinear fiber. Noise properties of this optical source are studied through numerical simulations based on the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. The numerical simulations show that the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) generation in an erbium-doped fiber amplifier and the ASE amplification during the sc generation result in a serious degradation of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). A novel scheme for improvement of the SNR of the multiwavelength cw optical source based on sc by using a dispersion-imbalanced nonlinear optical loop mirror is presented and the numerical simulation results are given. As a result, the average level of the SNR improvement is 11 dB and the eye-opening penalty is reduced by 0.91 dB due to the SNR improvement. In addition, the scheme can also be applied for improvement of the SNR of a pulse-type multiwavelength light source. PACS 42.50.Lc; 42.65.Re; 42.79.Sz; 02.60.Cb