Abstract

Multi-wavelength or tunable laser sources are expected to play a major role in flexible TDM- WDM networks [1]. A supercontinuum (SC) pulse source is one of the promising candidates for such WDM sources in the sense that it generates short pulses over a continuous broad spectral range, thus many channels at arbitrary wavelengths can be selected by merely filtering out the desired wavelength components [2-4]. Recently, we have reported LD-pumped, GHz SC pulse generation at 1.5 μm over 40 nm in an optical fiber using amplified 1.55 μm gain-switched LD pulses [3]. To actually use the SC pulse source for optical communication systems, however, their noise characteristics such as bit-error rates (BER), RIN are yet to be studied.

© 1994 Optical Society of America