Photonic sampler for 1550-nm signals

A device that extracts a sample of configurable length from a 1550-nm communication signal under the command of a pulsed light beam is presented. The device is realized by means of two CdTe:In optical switches; it has 10-ns rise and fall times and a sampling window of the duration of a microsecond. The photonic sampler is fully transparent to the optical communication signals in the third window.