Optical 2R regenerator based on passive saturable absorber for 40 Gbit/s WDM long-haul transmissions

A semiconductor saturable absorber based on an ion-irradiated quantum-well vertical cavity is implemented in a 40 Gbit/s dispersion-managed RZ loop, yielding a Q-factor of 13 dB and 11.3 dB at 7600 km distance in single-channel and WDM environments with five 200 GHz-spaced 40 Gbit/s channels, respectively. The regeneration capabilities of the passive 2R regenerator are investigated.