Abstract

Wavelength conversion is an important function for advanced optical networks to be flexible and efficient in terms of wavelength channel usage. All-optical wavelength converters have been realized by using cross-gain modulation (XGM), cross-phase modulation (XPM) or four-wave mixing (FWM) in semiconductor amplifiers (SOAs), ^1–3 or by using nonlinear effects, such as XPM or parametric process, in optical fibers.^4–6 The wavelength converters using XGM or XPM in SOAs are very efficient, but their speed is essentially limited by the carrier lifetime. So, careful designs in SOA structure or configuration are required to use them at more than 10 Gb/s.^1–3 The wavelength converters based on fiber nonlinear effects, though less efficient, have almost no speed limitation because nonlinear effects are very fast phenomena; they are promising for future transport networks with extremely high-speed signals.

© 2002 Optical Society of America