Celine Guignard

Optimized pulse source employing an externally injected gain-switched laser diode in conjunction with a nonlinearly chirped grating

In this paper, we demonstrate the generation of transform-limited short optical pulses, which display excellent spectral and temporal qualities by employing a novel technology, based on an externally injected gain-switched laser in conjunction with a nonlinearly chirped grating. Using this technique, 3.5-ps optical pulses exhibiting a time-bandwidth product (TBP) of 0.45 are generated, which are suitable for use in high-speed 80 Gb/s optical time-division multiplexing (OTDM) communications systems. The numerical integration of a set of rate equations using suitable parameters for the devices used in the experiments were carried out to further confirm the feasibility of the proposed method for developing an optimized pulse source for high-speed photonic systems.

System-Performance Analysis of Optimized Gain-Switched Pulse Source Employed in 40- and 80-Gb/s OTDM Systems

The development of ultrashort optical pulse sources, exhibiting excellent temporal and spectral profiles, will play a crucial role in the performance of future optical time division multiplexed (OTDM) systems. In this paper, we demonstrate the difference in performance in 40- and 80-Gb/s OTDM systems between optical pulse sources based on a gain-switched laser whose pulses are compressed by a nonlinearly and linearly chirped fiber Bragg grating. The results achieved show that nonlinear chirp in the wings of the pulse leads to temporal pedestals formed on either side of the pulse when using the linearly chirped grating, whereas with the nonlinearly chirped grating, pedestals are essentially eliminated. In an OTDM system, these pedestals cause coherent interaction between neighboring channels, resulting in intensity fluctuations that lead to a power penalty of 1.5 dB (40 Gb/s) and 3.5 dB (80 Gb/s) in comparison to the case where the nonlinearly chirped grating is used. Simulations carried out with the aid of Virtual Photonics Inc. verify the results achieved.

FROG characterisation of SOA-based wavelength conversion using XPM in conjunction with shifted filtering up to line rates of 80 GHz

The work we present here builds on recent work where we obtained 80 Gb/s error free performance using cross phase modulation (XPM) in an SOA in conjunction with a blue shifted bandpass filter. Here we present a detailed characterisation of this wavelength conversion scheme using a Frequency Resolved Optical Gating (FROG) measurement scheme for both red and blue shifted filtering. This type of characterisation has not been provided before to the best of our knowledge and is an important analysis firstly to achieve a full understanding of the gain and phase dynamics exploited by the wavelength conversion scheme presented and secondly to design a filter so that an optimum performance can be obtained

Low Sensitivity to Optical Feedback and Optical Injection of Discrete Mode Lasers

In this paper, we demonstrate the low sensitivity to both external optical feedback and external optical injection of a new type of extremely low cost single-mode lasers, called discrete mode (DM) lasers. The DM lasers are obtained from ridge waveguide Fabry Perot (FP) lasers, in which the effective refractive index of the lasing mode has been perturbed. These lasers exhibit a low sensitivity to external optical feedback since the coherence collapse threshold is around 5 dB higher in comparison to a commercial DFB laser

Investigation of SOA-based wavelength conversion at 80 Gb/s using bandpass filtering

This paper presents a simple and effective 80 Gb/s wavelength conversion scheme by using Cross Gain Modulation in a Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (SOA) in conjunction with filtering the blue shifted component of the probe spectrum to give a non-inverted output signal.

80-Gb/s OTDM System Analysis of a Vertical Microcavity-Based Saturable Absorber for the Enhancement of Pulse Pedestal Suppression

In future high-speed optical time-division-multiplexed (OTDM) systems, an important factor that needs to be considered for optical pulse generation schemes is the impact of pulse pedestals on the overall system performance. The results presented in this letter are two-fold; first, the impact due to the height of pulse pedestals in an 80-Gb/s OTDM system are established. Second, a solution is provided to overcome these high pedestal levels through the use of a vertical microcavity saturable absorber, which can significantly reduce the pulse pedestal level and give enhanced system performance

Ultra-narrow (sub-MHz) Linewidth Emission from Discrete Mode Laser Diodes

A class of laser which exhibits ultra-narrow sub MHz linewidth emission necessary for numerous applications in optical communications and sensors is described. The spectral performance of commercial discrete mode (DM) and distributed feedback (DFB) lasers is compared. The devices used in this work are asymmetrically coated ridge waveguide Fabry Perot lasers which incorporated etched slot features and emitting around lambda = 1.55 mum. The active region of the devices consisted of a strained compensated InAlGaAs MQW structure.

Discrete Mode Lasers for Applications in Access Networks

Fast development of the modern telecommunication networks such as fiber-to-the-home or radio-over-fiber systems require an inexpensive yet reliable optical transmitter for electro-optic conversion. Such devices should be able to generate stable, single moded optical signals suitable for athermal operation. Discrete Mode Lasers (DMLs) are able to fulfill all the above-mentioned requirements with the added benefit of low sensitivity to optical feedback. DMLs are essentially Fabry-Perot lasers in which the refractive index is modified by introducing perturbations along very small sections of the laser cavity. These modifications result in a single mode laser output with a very narrow linewidth (order of 400 kHz). In this paper, we demonstrate how a DML can outperform the commonly used/commercially available DFB lasers in terms of linewidth, sensitivity to optical feedback and transmission performance in the presence of feedback.

Performance of Pulse Source consisting of an Externally Injected Gain-Switched Laser followed by a Non-linearly/Linearly Chirped Grating in an 80 Gb/s OTDM System

In this paper, we have demonstrated the excellent performance of an externally injected gain-switched laser source followed by a NC FBG (nonlinear group delay and nonlinear reflection profile) by employing it in an 80 Gb/s OTDM system. A major improvement in system sensitivity (3.5 dB) achieved by the increased suppression of the temporal pedestals was recorded when compared with a gain-switched source employing a linearly chirped grating

Performance of 80 Gb/s OTDM System Employing Gain-Switched Pulses Compressed by a Linearly and a Nonlinearly Chirped Grating

We demonstrate performance difference in an 80Gb/s OTDM system employing gain-switched pulses compressed using linearly and nonlinearly chirped fibre gratings. A 3.5 dB power penalty was incurred when the linearly chirped grating was used.