All-optical Mach-Zehnder-Interferometer-based demultiplexer-a computer simulation study

An all-optical demultiplexer based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) is simulated using a realistic simulation engine. A novel scheme is proposed that utilizes the active interferometer arms in a bidirectional regime for simultaneous pre-amplification of the control light pulses and for differential nonlinear control of the interferometer balance. The device design incorporates an on-chip delay line as well as fine-tuning of the control pulse powers for optimal extinction ratio. This leads to a more compact device and an improved performance at speeds of up to 200 Gb/s.