All-optical wavelength converters for optical switching applications

Abstract We present the latest results about all-optical wavelength conversion obtained within the European Union—funded RACE ATMOS project. In particular, solutions based on carrier depletion in Distributed Brag Reflector lasers have reached penalty-free polarization-insensitive operation at up to 2.5 Gbit/s, while solutions based on Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (SOAS) under cross-gain modulation have been demonstrated at more than 20 Gbit/s. The study of cross-phase modulation in SOAs has also been performed, leading to the monolithic integration of SOAs within an interferometer, according to structures proposed by the project. Penalty-free operation at up to 10 Gbit/s as well as signal reshaping have been obtained with such devices. Besides the study of components, wavelength converters have been used in several demonstrators assessing their maturity and compatibility with photonic-switching applications.