Paraskevas Bakopoulos

40-Gb/s All-Optical Processing Systems Using Hybrid Photonic Integration Technology

This paper presents an experimental performance characterization of all-optical subsystems at 40 Gb/s using interconnected hybrid integrated all-optical semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) gates and flip-flop prototypes. It was shown that optical gates can be treated as generic switching elements and, when efficiently interconnected, can form larger and more functional network subsystems. Specifically, this paper reports on all-optical subsystems capable of performing on-the-fly packet clock recovery, 3R regeneration, label/payload separation, and packet routing using the wavelength domain. The all-optical subsystems are capable of operating with packet-mode traffic and are suitable for all-optical label-switched and self-routed network nodes. The intelligent functionality offered, combined with the compactness and stability of the optical gates, verifies the potential that all-optical technology can find application in future data-centric networks with efficient and dynamic bandwidth utilization. This paper also reports on the latest photonic integration breakthroughs as a potential migration path for reducing fabrication cost by developing photonic systems-on-chip utilizing multiple SOA-MZI optical gates on a single chip

All-Optical 3R Burst-Mode Reception at 40 Gb/s Using Four Integrated MZI Switches

We demonstrate an all-optical retime, reshape, reamplify (3R) burst-mode receiver (BMR) operating error-free with a 40-Gb/s variable-length asynchronous optical data packets that exhibit up to 9-dB packet-to-packet power variation. The circuit is completely based upon hybrid integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometric (MZI) switches as it employs four cascaded MZIs, each one performing a different functionality. The 3R burst-mode reception is achieved with the combination of two discrete all-optical subsystems. A reshape, reamplify BMR employing a single MZI is used first to perform power equalization of the incoming bursts and provide error-free data reception. This novel approach is experimentally demonstrated to operate error-free, even for a 9-dB dynamic range of power variation between bursty data packets and for a wide range of average input power. The obtained power-equalized data packets are then fed into a 3R regenerator to improve the signal quality by reducing the phase and amplitude jitter of the incoming data. This packet-mode 3R regenerator employs three MZIs that perform wavelength conversion, clock extraction, and data regeneration for every packet separately and operates at 40 Gb/s, exhibiting rms timing jitter reduction from 4 ps at the input to 1 ps at the output and a power penalty improvement of 2.5 dB

Enabling Tb/s Photonic Routing: Development of Advanced Hybrid Integrated Photonic Devices to Realize High-Speed, All-Optical Packet Switching

We present recent advances in photonic integration introduced by integration-related European research project IST-MUFINS. The contribution of the project in the progress of a functional photonic integration is outlined, from device fabrication to device application focusing on photonic routing using multielement photonic chips. Specifically, we report on the transition from single-element to multielement photonic devices with the fabrication of hybrid integrated arrays of optical switches exploiting and upgrading the silica-on-silicon hybrid photonic integration. We demonstrate how the enhanced processing power and capacity of these components can be exploited to implement key functionalities required in next-generation fully integrated terabits per second photonic routers.

On-the-Fly All-Optical Contention Resolution for NRZ and RZ Data Formats Using Packet Envelope Detection and Integrated Optical Switches

We present a packet-by-packet contention resolution scheme that combines packet detection, optical space switching, and wavelength conversion performed in the optical domain by integrated optical switches. The packet detection circuit provides the control signals required to deflect and wavelength-convert the contending packets so that all the packets are forwarded to the same output without any collision or packet droppings. We demonstrate the compatibility of the scheme with both nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) and return-to-zero (RZ) modulation formats by recording error-free operation for 10-Gb/s NRZ and 40-Gb/s RZ packet-mode traffic

Compact all-optical packet clock and data recovery circuit using generic integrated MZI switches

We present and evaluate a compact, all-optical Clock and Data Recovery (CDR) circuit based on integrated Mach Zehnder interferometric switches. Successful operation for short packet-mode traffic of variable length and phase alignment is demonstrated. The acquired clock signal rises within 2 bits and decays within 15 bits, irrespective of packet length and phase. Error-free operation is demonstrated at 10 Gb/s.

40 Gb/s PAM-4 Transmitter IC for Long-Wavelength VCSEL Links

Conventional 850 nm multimode fiber links deployed in warehouse-scale data centers will be limited by modal dispersion beyond 10 Gb/s when covering distances up to 1 km. This can be resolved by opting for a single-mode fiber (SMF), but typically requires the use of power-hungry edge-emitting lasers. We investigate the feasibility of a high-efficiency SMF link by reporting a 0.13 μm SiGe BiCMOS laser diode driver optimized for long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). Bit-error rate experiments at 28 and 40 Gb/s up to 1 km of SMF reveal that four-level pulse amplitude modulation can compete with non-return-to-zero in terms of energy efficiency and scalability. With 9.4 pJ/b, the presented transmitter paves the way for VCSEL-based SMF links in data centers.

All-optical carrier recovery with periodic optical filtering for wavelength reuse in RSOA-based colorless optical network units in full-duplex 10Gbps WDM-PONs

Optically assisted downstream cancellation for wavelength reuse in WDM-PONs is demonstrated, allowing downstream extinction ratios up to 9 dB for symmetrical full-duplex data transmission at 10Gbps with RSOA-based ONUs. PON budgets of ~20dB can be reached.

All-Optical T-Flip-Flop Using a Single SOA-MZI-Based Latching Element

The authors demonstrate a novel all-optical T-flip-flop (TFF) layout utilizing a single optical latching element that comprises an integrated semiconductor optical amplifier and Mach-Zehnder inteferometer and a feedback loop. Experimental proof-of-concept verification is presented at 8 Mb/s using off-the-shelf bulk components and a fiber-based feedback implementation. The proposed TFF architecture requires the minimum number of active components and just a single toggling signal as input. Its simple circuit design is amenable with photonic integration and holds the credentials for operation at multi-Gb/s speeds.

A tunable continuous wave (CW) and short-pulse optical source for THz brain imaging applications

We demonstrate recent advances toward the development of a novel 2D THz imaging system for brain imaging applications both at the macroscopic and at the bimolecular level. A frequency-synthesized THz source based on difference frequency generation between optical wavelengths is presented, utilizing supercontinuum generation in a highly nonlinear optical fiber with subsequent spectral carving by means of a fiber Fabry‐Perot filter. Experimental results confirm the successful generation of THz radiation in the range of 0.2‐2 THz, verifying the enhanced frequency tunability properties of the proposed system. Finally, the roadmap toward capturing functional brain information by exploiting THz imaging technologies is discussed, outlining the unique advantages offered by THz frequencies and their complementarity with existing brain imaging techniques.

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We demonstrate an optically controlled 2times2 exchange/bypass switch using 0.8 m of highly nonlinear bismuth oxide fiber in an ultrafast-nonlinear-interferometer configuration. The switch has operated error-free with 10- and 40-Gb/s input signals, with power penalties in its bypass and exchange states of less than 0.3 and 1 dB, respectively. Use of the short bismuth oxide fiber ensured compact size, small latency, and improved operational stability compared to previous fiber-based switches