ALL-OPTICAL MACH-ZEHNDER WAVELENGTH CONVERTER WITH MONOLITHICALLY INTEGRATED DFB PROBE SOURCE

The first interferometric wavelength converter with an integrated cont inuous-wave (CW) probe source is presented. The two-port device operat es independent of polarization for a broad range of input wavelengths. The input dynamic range is enhanced by an integrated input preamplifi er. Input powers as low as -5.4 dBm in the fiber are converted with pe nalties as low as 0.6 dB at a bitrate of 2.5 Gb/s. The device is shown to operate with the same low penalty for same-wavelength operation as well. The chirp parameter a is measured to be 2 for wavelength conver sion. No chirp is added to the input signal for same-wavelength operat ion.