A tunable WDM wavelength converter based on cross-phase modulation effects in normal dispersion holey fiber

We demonstrate a tunable wavelength-division-multiplexing wavelength converter based on cross-phase modulation in just 5.8 m of highly nonlinear normal dispersion holey fiber (HF) and incorporating a precise compression-tuned apodized fiber-grating filter. We achieve both error-free and penalty-free 10-Gb/s wavelength conversion over a ~15-nm bandwidth. The short device length and correspondingly reduced pulse walkoff effect ensures a constant wavelength-converted signal pulsewidth across the full tuning range. The use of HF with normal dispersion eliminates the coherencedegradation related intensity noise previously observed in experiments employing anomalously dispersive HF.