Abstract

In future photonic high-speed networks the wavelength dimension will be exploited to increase capacity and functionality. All-optical wavelength converters will be key components in such systems.¹ Several types of high-speed all-optical wavelength-conversion principles have been proposed. However, concepts such as four-wave mixing in fibers and semiconductors are inherently polarization sensitive, and converters based on distributed-feedback/distributed-Bragg-reflector (DFB/DBR) lasers are unable to convert to the same wavelength as the input signal and to convert simultaneously to several wavelengths. Therefore we pursue the concept based on cross-gain modulation in semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) because it is very efficient.² Here, we demonstrate polarization-insensitive wavelength conversion at 10 Gbit/s with low penalty. The signal input power required for efficient wavelength conversion is only −5 dBm because of the use of a SOA with a long cavity.

© 1994 Optical Society of America