SWITCHES AND FREQUENCY-CONVERTERS BASED ON CROSS-GAIN MODULATION IN SEMICONDUCTOR OPTICAL AMPLIFIERS

The large-signal theory of frequency converters based on cross-gain an d cross-phase modulations in a semiconductor optical amplifier is deve loped, for the case in which pump and probe are injected from the same facet (co-propagating case). Simple expressions for the bandwidth of cross-gain modulation are derived for single and cascaded SOA's, and l arge-signal simulations are carried out for cascaded SOA's, pointing o ut some important system issues, In the cascaded case, the effect of t he loss between the SOA's is highlighted.