Mode-locked ring lasers and their application in an all-optical flip-flop memory

Author

Yang, X. ; Tangdiongga, E. ; Zhang, S. ; Li, Z. ; Hill, J.T. ; Lenstra, D. ; Khoe, G.D. ; Dorren, H.J.S.

Author_Institution

Cobra Res. Inst., Eindhoven Univ. of Technol., Netherlands

Volume

2

fYear

2004

fDate

4-8 July 2004

Firstpage

303

Abstract

We demonstrate the generation of picosecond and sub-picosecond optical pulses source by using a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) placed in a ring cavity. Sub-picosecond optical pulses are generated by using an SOA and a linear polarizer placed in a passively mode-locked ring-laser configuration. Nonlinear polarization rotation in the SOA serves as the mode-locking mechanism. The ring cavity generates pulses with duration below 800 fs (FWHM) at a repetition rate of 14 MHz. We also demonstrate an all-optical flip-flop based on two coupled identical actively mode-locked lasers. Each ring-laser outputs optical pulses with duration of 3 ps (FWHM) at a repetition rate of 10 GHz. We demonstrate flip-flop operation and regular toggling between the states.

Keywords

flip-flops; laser mode locking; light polarisation; optical pulse generation; optical storage; ring lasers; semiconductor optical amplifiers; SOA; all-optical flip-flop memory; coupled identical actively mode-locked lasers; linear polarizer; mode-locked ring lasers; nonlinear polarization rotation; optical pulse generation; picosecond optical pulses; regular toggling; ring cavity; semiconductor optical amplifier; sub-picosecond optical pulses; Flip-flops; Laser applications; Laser mode locking; Optical polarization; Optical pulse generation; Optical pulses; Pulse amplifiers; Ring lasers; Semiconductor lasers; Semiconductor optical amplifiers;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Transparent Optical Networks, 2004. Proceedings of 2004 6th International Conference on

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8343-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICTON.2004.1362030

Filename

1362030