100-Gb/s 2R regeneration using cross gain compression in semiconductor optical amplifiers

Area of Science:

• Optical Communications
• Nonlinear Optics
• Semiconductor Devices

Background:

• High-speed optical signal regeneration is crucial for extending the reach and capacity of fiber optic networks.
• Existing regeneration techniques often require optoelectronic conversions, limiting speed and increasing complexity.
• All-optical methods offer a promising alternative for faster and more efficient signal processing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To experimentally demonstrate all-optical 2R regeneration of a 100-Gb/s on-off-keying (OOK) signal.
• To investigate the key factors enabling high-speed regeneration using semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs).
• To evaluate the performance and wavelength range of the proposed regeneration scheme.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing the cross gain compression (XGC) effect in SOAs for signal regeneration.
• Employing a high-quality logic-inverted signal as input for the regeneration process.
• Experimentally measuring bit error rate (BER) improvement and assessing performance across a wide wavelength range.

Main Results:

• Successful all-optical 2R regeneration of a 100-Gb/s OOK signal was achieved.
• A bit error rate (BER) improvement of 1.2–2 dB was obtained at 1551 nm.
• Regeneration was demonstrated across a broad wavelength range (1535 nm to 1555 nm).
• The study identified faster SOA gain recovery times and high-quality inverted signals as critical for high-speed regeneration.

Conclusions:

• All-optical 2R regeneration using XGC in SOAs is a viable technique for 100-Gb/s OOK signals.
• The performance is significantly influenced by SOA gain dynamics and input signal quality.
• The demonstrated scheme offers flexibility in terms of operating wavelength and shows tolerance to optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) variations.