%0 Journal Article
%T Simultaneous Realization of Wavelength Conversion, 2R Regeneration, and All-Optical Multiple Logic Gates with OR, NOR, XOR, and XNOR Functions Based on Self-Polarization Rotation in a Single SOA: An Experimental Approach
%A Youssef Said
%A Houria Rezig
%J International Journal of Optics
%D 2012
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2012/627018
%X We highlight the feasibility of experimental implementation of both inverted and noninverted wavelength conversion, 2R regeneration, and all-optical logic functions, such as OR, NOR, XOR, and XNOR optical gates by exploiting the self-polarization rotation in a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) device without changing the setup configuration. Switching between each optical function is done by only adjusting the input optical power level. In order to allow optimum control and preserve the polarization state of the injected and collected signals, the polarimetric measures have been carried out in free space. 1. Introduction and State of the Art Semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is a promising and fundamental component in today¡¯s photonic networks and next-generation optical networks. It is characterized by high nonlinearities, compactness, multifunctionality, and high ability of integration. It has proven to be a versatile and multifunctional device to be used to achieve different functions in access, core, and metropolitan networks. Particularly, it has been envisioned for all-optical signal processing tasks at very high bit rates, that cannot be handled by electronics, such as wavelength conversion [1¨C4], signal regeneration [5, 6], optical switching [7] and, optical logic operations [8¨C10]. All-optical wavelength converters and optical regenerators can be achieved by exploiting SOA nonlinearities such as cross-gain modulation (XGM) [11], cross-phase modulation (XPM) [3, 12, 13], four-wave mixing (FWM) [14, 15], and cross-polarization modulation (XPolM) [6, 16, 17]. They have attracted a lot of interest thanks to their attractive features, such as small size, fast carrier dynamics, multifunctional aspect, power consumption, optical power efficiency, and high potential of integration. The main features of wavelength converters include their transparency to bit rate and signal format, operation at moderate optical power levels, low electrical power consumption, small frequency chirp, cascadability of multiple stages of converters, and signal reshaping. All-optical wavelength converters at bit rates from 10 up to 100£¿Gbit/s were experimentally and theoretically investigated, by Leuthold et al., by using a fully integrated. SOA-delayed interference configuration [1]. Furthermore, Randhawa et al. [3] have simulated wavelength converter for future broadcast networks at 40£¿Gbit/s using low-cost SOAs. Their performance analysis is carried out for an all-optical frequency converter based on XPM in two SOAs arranged in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI)
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijo/2012/627018/