Abstract

Wavelength exchange (WE), which realizes the exchange of power between two wavelengths, ¹ can be useful in future optical communication systems. It can be used for wavelength conversion, optical 3R, optical cross-connect, or optical add/drop multiplexing for optical TDM or optical packet switching systems. Recently, we have demonstrated WE in highly-nonlinear dispersion-shifted fiber (HNL-DSF), and shown that two modulated channels can be exchanged.² However, because WE makes use of four-wave mixing (FWM) between two pumps and two signals, the states of polarization (SOP) of pumps and signals strongly affect its operation characteristics. In this paper, we explore the influence of the SOP of pumps and signals in WE, and show that WE with orthogonal pumps gives superior characteristics in terms of extinction ratio, compared to that with parallel pumps. Based on these results, we have also demonstrated polarization-independent WE with orthogonal pumps, by using a polarization-diversity technique.^3,4

© 2002 Optical Society of America