Performances of a widely pulsewidth-tunable multiwavelength pulse generator by a single SOA-based delayed interferometric switch.

ABSTRACT

Performances of a multiwavelength optical pulse generator by utilizing a single semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)-based delayed interferometric switch are investigated. The generator enables us to generate multiwavelength clock pulse trains, which are synchronized with an optical clock. Moreover, the output waveform can be easily controlled by adjusting the time delay and phase offset of the interferometric switch. The obtained pulsewidth controllability is also useful to optimize the waveform according to transmission lines with different cumulative dispersions. We have verified that the pulsewidth tuning enables us to optimize transmission characteristics with various cumulative dispersion values, and have successfully obtained the improved transmission performances of the waveform-converted signals in comparison with conventional signals.